The daughter of a taxi driver who was hacked to death by two teenage passengers has revealed how the family found out he had been murdered.
Oliver Pugh, 20, brutally stabbed Mohammed Istakhar to death in Solihull in the early hours of 29 November 2022.
Luca De-Fazio, now 19, who had been with him that night was cleared of murder but given a one-month sentence after admitting possession of a knife.
Mr Istakhar had picked up Pugh in Birmingham city centre, where he had boasted to a girl: “I’m going to steal a taxi.”
The father, 44, was found in the morning by two people lying face down in the street.
Pugh had escaped 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.
The family discovered he had died after his mother called him ‘100 times’ and a stranger finally answered after finding him in a car park in Birmingham.
When they arrived at the scene, Mariam’s brother “begged” police to describe the person who had died and then “knew it was him,” she said.
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 SunThe audiologist compared her father’s last moments to something out of a “horror movie.”
She said: ‘I still can’t stop thinking, why my dad?’
Mariam said she tries to remember him for his “big heart” and how much he loved his family.
Mariam, one of five siblings, said her father was happily married to her mother Nasira Mughal, 46, for more than 20 years. The widow now visits her grave “every day.”
Istakhar had worked as a taxi driver since he was 18 and worked long shifts.
He is now calling for stricter regulations on night taxi drivers to keep them safe and more education in schools about the impact of knife crime.
But he told the newspaper that his family had never worried about him at work because he was “muscular and strong.”
And because he “trusted people,” he never bothered to take common precautions like dash cam footage, cameras, or protective screens.
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 his cat before leaving for work at 3am. She usually returned at 7 a.m., she said.
Mohammed Istakhar was stabbed to death on Braggs Farm Lane (pictured) in Solihull.
The scene in Solihull shortly after the tragic incident on 30 November 2022.
But that day he got a call from his brother and he was “screaming that dad was dead.”
At first he 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 Mariam and her mother CCTV footage to help them in their search for Mr Istakhar.
Tragically, when they arrived there was a crime scene and they saw officers putting a body in a bag.
Mariam’s brother “begged” police to describe the person who died, and when they described what her father was wearing, “she knew it was him,” she said.
She told The Sun: ‘After all these years he was safe out there. My world ended that day.’
The distraught daughter said her father was “lured” to a remote country road when the two teenagers went looking for cash. But instead, they returned with “two large knives.”
They stabbed him ‘ferociously’ and when the taxi driver fled, they ‘chased’ him.
His daughter said he had “begged for his life” and told them he had a family.
Mariam said she thinks of her father’s last moments as something “out of a horror movie,” as he ran for his life in the dark.
She said he worked “back to back” shifts for as long as she could remember to “provide for our family.”
He was ‘dedicated’ to giving them a good life and his daughter expressed how grateful her family is.
After the murder, Pugh and De-Fazio stole the taxi and drove it through the city’s suburbs.
Pugh was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in September last year where he threatened to punch someone after being jailed.
The photo shows the police cordon established after the fatal stabbing on November 30, 2022.
Judge Simon Drew KC sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum sentence of 27 years, less the 289 days he has spent in custody.
De-Fazio, 19, was acquitted of murder but pleaded guilty to possession of a knife and was sentenced to one month.
Speaking about the sentences, Mariam said she is “glad that the jury saw [Pugh] for the monster he really was”, but rejected the sanction imposed on De-Fazio.
During the sentencing hearing, Mariam read a family impact statement to the court.
She said: ‘Our lives will never be the same. We are not living, we are existing.
‘Passing time day by day, minute by minute until we meet 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 came to the country when he was 13 and worked as a factory worker as well as a taxi driver.
Finally, he added: ‘Why did he have to pick up these two idiots? Why did it have to be our father? “He didn’t deserve this at all.”