A hero army veteran whose family fought off a killer with a walking stick during a west London knife rampage said he was 'gobsmacked' that he escaped a murder rap.
Afghan immigrant Dawood Safi, 28, fatally stabbed Wayne Broadhurst, 49, on a street in Uxbridge, west London, last year. He attacked his landlord Shahzad Farrukh and a boy, 15, before killing Mr Broadhurst.
Family confronts attacker
Keith Rogers, 58, a former soldier, and his family confronted the attacker and shielded Mr Farrukh and the teenager from further injury. Keith told Metro: 'We heard blood-curdling screams for help from our neighbours. Everything happened so fast. Our neighbours came out of their house and we managed to get them inside our home.'
'One was very badly injured he was bleeding a lot. I tried to compress his wound, there was blood all over the floor. As I was helping him, the man who lived with them came to our door with a knife – he had stabbed them and looked like he wanted to finish them off.'
'My daughter headed him off at our door, picked up a walking stick near the door and started hitting him with it as he tried to slash her with the knife. She was so brave she managed to fend off the bloke.'
Fatal attack on Wayne Broadhurst
He described how Safi then walked down the road before jumping on Mr Broadhurst, repeatedly stabbing him. He told Metro: 'I had a baseball bat which I threatened the bloke with I came eye to eye with him. He looked like he knew what he was doing but just didn't care. He didn't look possessed or crazy just like he knew what he was doing.'
'He eventually retreated, and I went to help Wayne. I gave him chest compressions I did everything I could but he was slipping away, he was stabbed so many times. I had some medical training from the army so I helped all the victims as best I could.'
Court outcome and reaction
Safi admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility at Southwark Crown Court and will be held in Broadmoor Hospital or a similar unit 'indefinitely', with the judge recommending the Uber driver's deportation. Mr Broadhurst's family expressed their concerns to the court that he could be released if his mental health improves.
'It's heartbreaking what happened. From what I could see I would not think the diminished responsibility explanation makes sense. From my point of view he knew what he was doing. I'm gobsmacked he is in a hospital and not prison. That's just not right.'
Mr Rogers' daughter, 28, said: 'He came at me with the knife so I grabbed the walking stick by the door. I hit him in the face and knocked some teeth out. He was lunging at me with the knife. My injured neighbours were in the house and he was not going to get through me. We are not heroes I was just doing what dad brought me up to do and that's to look out for others.'
She added: 'It has had a huge impact on us though. I'm scared to go out sometimes and life is not the same as it was. I'm disappointed with the verdict. To me it's murder.'
Mrs Justice Cutts told the court that Safi, who stabbed Mr Broadhurst 14 times, had been 'in a psychotic state'. Mr Broadhurst, a refuse collector, was walking his dog when Safi lunged at him with a blade. The judge told Safi: 'Wayne Broadhurst, a gentle and quiet man, had the misfortune to be walking his dog at the time. As he emerged from the alleyway on to the street, you set upon and killed him in a frenzied, random, and completely unprovoked assault involving stabbing him at least 14 times.'
Ann Newman, Mr Broadhurst's partner, told the court she had had a 'future stolen from me'. The court heard that Safi had been in the country illegally. He appeared at court via video link from high-security Broadmoor Hospital. He said he had paranoid delusions before embarking on his knife rampage. The judge told the court she would have sentenced Safi to life in prison if he had not been deemed mentally unfit to be found guilty of murder.
