An Uber driver who killed a council street cleaner and wounded his landlord during a “frenzy of violence” in west London has been given an indefinite hospital order.
Afghan refugee Dawood Safi, 28, fatally stabbed Wayne Broadhurst, 49, in the street during a knife rampage that began at his home in Uxbridge on October 27 last year.
Safi, who was gripped by paranoid delusions and voices in his head, attacked his landlord, Shahzad Farrukh, minutes before killing Mr Broadhurst.
Attack details
Video footage shows Mr Broadhurst out walking his dog just minutes before the fatal attack. Safi pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Monday to manslaughter by diminished responsibility. He was convicted of attempting to murder Mr Farrukh and pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm against a teenage boy, as well as possession of the knife.
On Monday, October 5, a judge ordered Safi to be detained indefinitely in a secure hospital.
Bodycam footage published by the Met Police shows Safi holding a knife as he attempts to stab residents in a street in Uxbridge. One woman, holding what appears to be a bat, hits Safi in an attempt to drive him away from her front door as other residents emerge from their homes.
Court proceedings
Southwark Crown Court heard Safi, who was smuggled into the UK on the back of a lorry in 2020, had suffered a “collapse” in his mental health in the days before the stabbings and was suffering delusions that his family was conspiring against him.
Mr Broadhurst, a street cleaner for Ealing Council, had the “terrible misfortune” to walk with his dog Harry past the house in Midhurst Gardens and was stabbed 14 times by Safi, said prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw KC.
On Monday, Mrs Justice Cutts ordered that Safi be held indefinitely in a secure hospital to receive mental health treatment, after finding he was “in a psychotic state” at the time of the stabbings.
Victim impact
Mr Broadhurst’s partner, Ann Newman, told the court her “future was stolen from me” and described facing up to a daily battle with grief and loss. Her sister, Laura Ireland-Cochrane, said the family has struggled to come to terms with Safi being convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.
In her sentencing remarks, the judge acknowledged the “devastating” impact of the crime on Mr Broadhurst’s family, and added that he was “a hard-working and decent man who was deeply loved”.
Safi, who was born in the Kapisa province of northern Afghanistan, was smuggled in to the UK on the back of a lorry in November 2020 and lied about his age – saying he was 17 instead of 22 – to stand a better chance of asylum.
Mr Laidlaw said Safi travelled through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Belgium and the Netherlands to get to the UK, and was coached by his cousin to lie to the police and immigration authorities “to maximise his chances of gaining leave to remain”.
He pretended that his father, a fruit farmer, had been murdered by the Taliban, instead of the truth that he was killed when a land dispute turned violent, and he was granted leave to remain in the UK until 2027.
Mental health background
Safi, who was working as an Uber driver, had studied for a mechanics qualification at Uxbridge College, worked jobs including as a driver and in a restaurant, and had no convictions since entering the country. He had sought help from doctors for his deteriorating mental health prior to the stabbings, which began at the address in Midhurst Gardens on the afternoon of October 27 last year.
Dr Elliott Carthy, who has assessed Safi at Broadmoor, said he had “paranoid and persecutory beliefs” and voices in his head contributed to his actions that day. He gave evidence that a hospital order with restrictions was the best way to protect the public “going forward now and in anticipation of his release into the community”.
Under questioning, he said Safi was likely to spend at least five years at Broadmoor before being considered for transfer to a medium security facility where he would stay for several more years, and if he is released into the community he will be under strict conditions and subject to lifelong monitoring.
The judge told the court she would have sentenced Safi to life in prison with a minimum term of eight years if he was not mentally unwell.
Detective Inspector Richard MacKenzie, who led the investigation, said: “This was a shocking attack that, tragically, led to Wayne Broadhurst’s death and had a huge impact on the local community.”
