'I rushed home, and police were there. They told me Dad had been stabbed to death': Daughter of taxi-driver father reveals her 'world ended' after he was stabbed to death by customer who then took his cab on a joy-ride

Hardworking taxi driver Mohammed Istakhar scoffed a curry his wife had lovingly made and left out for him before setting off for work at 3am in November 2022. Little did he know he would not return home. 

Lured to a dark country lane, Mohammed was brutally stabbed in the chest by killer Oliver Pugh. 

The father-of-five managed to jump out of his cab and ran for his life in darkness. But the 20-year-old hunted him down and stabbed him in the arm and thigh as Mohammed begged for his life. 

The taxi driver collapsed and died 'in his own pool of blood'.  

Having not returned home at 7am, his wife Nasira Mughal phoned him 100 times not knowing her husband was already dead. 

A stranger answered his phone and she and her son managed to track down where he had gone when a security guard at a nearby football ground showed them CCTV. 

They arrived to find the road sealed off and a heavy police presence. The pair then watched on in horror as they saw Mohammed's body be placed into a bag.   

His heartbroken daughter Mariam Hijab, 26, from Edgbaston, Birmingham, says her father, then 44, had been a cabbie for 20 years and he was the heart of her family.

After the horrific murder, Pugh and his assailant, Luca De-Fazio, 19, went on a joy-ride in Mohammed's taxi.

Mariam, an audiologist, says: 'Thinking of my dad's last moments in the dark running for his life is like something out of a horror film.

'I still can't stop thinking, why my dad?

'There needs to be tighter regulations for taxi drivers driving so late. And there needs to be more education in schools about knife crime so these young people know the impact taking a knife out has on families.'

Mariam's parents, Mohammed, and mother, Nasira Mughal, 46, were happily married for over 20 years, and had five children, including Mariam.

Mohammed was a taxi driver for a private company since he was 18, and worked long shifts around Birmingham suburbs and city centre.

Mariam says: 'For as long as I could remember, Dad worked back to back shifts and was barely home.

'He always said he did it for us, to provide for our family. We told him he worked too hard but he was dedicated to giving us a good home and a good life. We were very grateful to him.

'Over the years, although Dad worked for a private company which wasn't safe like Uber, we never worried about him.

'He was muscular and strong so I always thought, who would mess with him! Dad also never worried himself.

'He didn't bother with dashcams, cameras and protective screens. He trusted people.'

In November 2022, Mariam was still living at home with her family when her dad left to go to work.

Mariam says: 'Mum left Dad some curry out to eat, and he came home whilst we were all asleep to have his food, he played with the cat then headed back out at 3am.

'In the morning, I headed off to work. Whilst Dad usually got home for 7am latest.

'But later that day I got a call from my brother whilst I was seeing a patient at work. I stepped outside to take it and he was shouting that Dad was dead.

'I thought it was an awful mistake.'

Mariam soon discovered that her father hadn't come home from work that morning.

Her mother had called Mohammed's phone 100 times, but a stranger answered his phone after finding it in a car-park in Birmingham city centre.

The security guard at a football ground kindly offered to show Mariam's mother and brother his CCTV to help them track down Mohammed.

But when the family arrived, there was a crime scene down the road and they saw a body was being put into a bag by police.

Mariam says: 'My brother begged the police, and they described Dad's clothing. He knew it was him.

'I rushed home, and detectives were there. They confirmed Dad had been stabbed to death. Bursting into tears, none of us could believe it was real.

'After all these years of him being safe out there. My world ended that day.'

After gathering CCTV footage, police arrested two strangers Mohammed had picked up the night before, Oliver Pugh, 20 and Luca De-Fazio, 19.

They discovered Mohammed had picked the pair up from Broad Street, the clubbing area of Birmingham.

Mariam says: 'Oliver lured Dad to a remote country lane by his home. He pretended to get cash, but both him and Luca returned with two large kitchen knives.

'Oliver sat next to Dad in the car, and stabbed him ferociously in the chest. Dad managed to jump out, and he ran down the road in the darkness, running for his life.

'But they hunted him down. Dad begged for his life, and told them 'I have a family, I have kids.'

'But Oliver Pugh stabbed again in the thigh and arm. Dad collapsed, and died in a pool of his own blood.

'Hearing how Dad was killed for nothing, and targeted at complete random, broke me. All because he picked them up that night.'

After the horrific killing, Pugh and De-Fazio stole his taxi, and joy-rode in it around the suburbs of Birmingham.

They removed the number plates and taxi livery, crashed into a farmer's back fence, before fleeing the scene and disposing of the two weapons.

In September 2023, Oliver Pugh, 20, of New Meadow Close, Solihull, Birmingham, was found guilty of murder at Birmingham Crown Court.

He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 27 years.

Luca De-Fazio, 19, of no fixed address, was cleared of murder, but pleaded guilty to possession of a knife and sentenced to one month.

Mariam says: 'In court, Oliver and Luca blamed each-other for the killing.

'We soon heard how Oliver had boasted in a Dixy chicken's shop earlier that night that he was going to 'rob a taxi tonight.'

'Clearly, he was malicious and inhumane, and it would've been anyone targeted that night.

'Yet, throughout the trial, Oliver kept his head down, trying to fool the jury that he had remorse and he was a good person.

'But as his sentence of 27 years was read out, Oliver's façade disappeared and he leapt up, screaming at the judge and me and my partner.

'I was glad the jury saw him for the monster that he really was. But Lucas's result was sickening.

'I was appalled how he could serve just a month after being so involved in my dad's killing.

'Now, whilst Oliver sits in prison, and Luca walks the streets, my family and I grieve Dad.'

Heartbroken Mariam now calls for tighter regulations for taxi drivers driving so late, and for more knife crime awareness in schools.

Mariam says: 'Thanks to those two thugs, my brothers and sisters no longer have a father.

'My mum had lost her husband of 25 years; her best friend in the world. She visits Dad's grave every day.

'Whilst I just try to remember him for his big heart and how much he loved us all. Not a minute goes by where we don't miss him.

'Knife crime destroys so many lives.'