‘My dad’s last moments were like a horror film’: Daughter of taxi driver who was hacked to death by two teenage passengers reveals how the family found out he had been murdered when they saw his body being loaded into a bag by police

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 November 29, 2022.

Luca De-Fazio, now 19, who had been with him that evening, was acquitted of murder but jailed for a month after admitting possession of a knife.

Mr Istakhar had picked Pugh up from central Birmingham, where he had bragged to a girl: ‘I’m going to rob a taxi’.

The 44-year-old father was found lying on the ground by two members of the public in the morning.

Pugh had driven away in the taxi driver’s Vauxhall Insignia but was arrested a few days later in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.

His daughter, Mariam Hijab, 26, has now spoken out to pay tribute to her beloved father.

The family discovered he died after their 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 died and “he knew then it was him,” she said.

Speak with The 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 father?’

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 had been happily married to her mother Nasira Mughal, 46, for more than 20 years. The widow now visits his grave “every day”.

Mr Istakhar had worked as a taxi driver since he was 18, working long shifts.

She is now calling for stricter rules for late night taxi drivers to keep them safe, and for more education in schools about the consequences of knife crime.

But she told the newspaper that her family never worried about him while he was at work because he was “muscular and strong.”

And because he ‘trusted people’ he never worried about usual precautions like dashcam 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 some curry and play with their pet cat before leaving for work at 3am. He usually returned at 7 a.m., she said.

But that day she got a call from her brother and he “screamed that daddy was dead.”

At first she thought it was a “terrible mistake.” But her mother had called him ‘a hundred 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 assist in their search for Mr Istakhar.

Tragically, by the time they arrived there was a crime scene and they saw a body being placed in a bag by officers.

Mariam’s brother “begged” police to describe the deceased person and when they described what their father was wearing “he knew it was him,” she said.

She told The Sun: “After all these years of him being safe there. My world ended that day.”

The grieving daughter said her father was ‘lured’ to a remote country lane when the two teenagers left to get money. But instead they came back with ‘two big knives’.

They stabbed him ‘savagely’ and when the taxi driver fled, they started ‘hunting for him’.

His daughter said he “begged for his life” and told them he had a family.

Mariam said she sees her father’s final moments as something “out of a horror movie” as he ran for his life in the dark.

She said he had been working “back-to-back” shifts to “take care of our family” for as long as she could remember.

He was ‘dedicated’ to giving them a good life and his daughter expressed how grateful his family is.

After the murder, Pugh and De-Fazio stole the taxi and drove it through the outskirts of the city.

Pugh was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court in September last year, where he threatened to punch someone after being jailed.

Judge Simon Drew KC sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum term of 27 years, minus the 289 days he spent in custody.

De-Fazio, 19, was acquitted of murder but pleaded guilty to possessing a knife and was sentenced to one month.

Speaking about the sentences, Mariam said she was “glad the jury saw it [Pugh] for the monster he really was’, but denounced 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 don’t live, we exist.

‘Time passes day by day, minute by minute until we are reunited with the love of our lives.

‘We hardly saw him without 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 at the age of thirteen and worked as both a factory worker and a taxi driver.

Finally she added, “Why did he have to arrest these two idiots? Why did it have to be our father? He didn’t deserve this at all.’