The daughter of a taxi driver who was stabbed to death by two teenage passengers has revealed she can’t get the image of his horrific death out of her head.
Oliver Pugh, 20, brutally stabbed Mohammed Istakhar to death in Solihull in the early hours of November 29, 2022.
Luca De-Fazio, now 19, who was with him that night, was cleared of murder but was sentenced to a month in prison after admitting to possession of a knife.
Mr Istakhar had picked up Pugh in downtown Birmingham where he had bragged to a girl: “I’m going to rob a taxi”.
The 44-year-old father was found by two members of the public lying face down in the road in the morning.
Pugh left in the taxi driver’s Vauxhall Insignia but was arrested in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, a few days later.
His daughter, Mariam Hijab, 26, has now spoken out to pay tribute to her beloved father – but said she was haunted by the thought of his final moments “running for his life”.
Mohammed Istakhar was brutally stabbed to death in Solihull in 2022 by two teenagers
Oliver Pugh, 20 (pictured) was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court last year
Speaking to The Sun, the audiologist compared his father’s final moments to something out of a “horror film”.
She said: “I still can’t stop thinking, why my dad?
Mariam said she tried to remember him for his “big heart” and how much he loved his family.
Mariam, one of five siblings, said her father had been married to her mother Nasira Mughal, 46, for more than 20 years. The widow now visits his grave “every day”.
Mr. Istakhar had worked as a taxi driver since the age of 18 and worked long hours.
She is now calling for tougher regulations for night-time taxi drivers to keep them safe and more education in schools about the impact of knife crime.
But she told the newspaper that his family never worried about him at work because he was “muscular and strong.”
And because he “trusted people,” he never worried about common precautions like dashcam footage, cameras, or protective shields.
In 2022, Mariam was living at home when her father left for work that tragic night.
He had come home to eat curry and played with their cat before leaving for work at 3am. He usually returned at 7 a.m., she said.
Mohammed Istakhar was stabbed to death at Braggs Farm Lane (pictured) in Solihull
The scene in Solihull shortly after the tragic incident on November 30, 2022
But that day, she received a call from her brother and he was “screaming that daddy was dead.”
At first, she thought it was a “terrible mistake.” But his mother had called him “100 times” and a stranger finally answered after finding him in a car park in Birmingham.
A helpful security guard also offered to show CCTV footage to Mariam and her mother to help them in their search for Mr Istakhar.
Tragically, by the time they arrived there was a crime scene and they saw a body being bagged by officers.
Mariam’s brother “begged” police to describe the deceased and when they described what their father was wearing, “he knew it was him”, she said.
She told The Sun: “After all these years he was safe there. My world ended that day.
The grieving daughter said her father was “lured” to a secluded country lane as the two teenagers went off to collect money. But instead, they came back with “two big knives.”
They “ferociously” stabbed him and when the taxi driver fled, they “hunted” him down.
His daughter said he “begged for his life” and told them he had a family.
But they didn’t care and stabbed him again in the thigh and arm.
After the murder, Pugh and De-Fazio stole the taxi and drove it to the city’s suburbs.
Pugh was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court in September last year, where he threatened to punch someone after being jailed.
Pictured is the police cordon in place after the fatal stabbing on November 30, 2022.
Judge Simon Drew KC sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 27 years, less the 289 days he spent on remand.
De-Fazio, 19, was cleared of murder but pleaded guilty to possessing a knife and sentenced to one month.
Speaking about the sentences, Mariam said she was “glad the jury saw (Pugh) the monster he really was” but criticized De-Fazio’s punishment.
At the sentencing hearing, Mariam read a family impact statement to the court.
She said: “Our lives will never be the same again. We do not live, we exist.
“Passing the time day by day, minute by minute until we find the love of our life again.
“We barely saw him without his uniform. He spent most of his life working, saving and saving.
“He built his dream house for us. He was so selfless.
His daughter told the court that her father arrived in the country when he was 13 and worked as a factory worker as well as a taxi driver.
Finally, she added, “Why did he have to pick up those two idiots?” Why did it have to be our father? He didn’t deserve this at all.
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