An Uber driver has been convicted of attempting to murder his landlord in London during a violent psychotic episode.
Dawood Safi, 28, an Afghan refugee, attacked Shahzad Farrukh with a knife at their shared home in Uxbridge, west London, in October last year.
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Minutes later, Safi stabbed dog walker Wayne Broadhurst to death in the street. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.
The jury at Southwark Crown Court found Safi guilty of attempted murder of Farrukh on Thursday.
They are still deliberating on a charge of attempted murder of a 14-year-old boy also injured in the attack.
Safi entered the UK illegally in a lorry in 2020 and was granted asylum in 2022 after falsely claiming he saw the Taliban kill his father.
Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw KC said Safi was suffering from paranoia and delusions, hearing voices and believing his family was controlling him.
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Safi targeted Farrukh because he worked as a contractor for Thames Valley Police, which Safi thought could help him.
The attack began inside the home, where Safi confronted Farrukh with a large kitchen knife.
“He launched an unannounced attack on Mr Farrukh, who was unarmed and was caught completely unaware,” Laidlaw said.
The violence then moved to the street, where Safi randomly encountered Broadhurst walking his dog and stabbed him 14 times in what Laidlaw described as a “frenzied, random and entirely unprovoked attack.”
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The prosecution accepted Safi’s manslaughter plea based on psychiatric evidence, though Broadhurst’s family had sought a murder conviction.
