‘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 on the night was cleared of murder but received a one-month sentence after admitting to possession of a knife.

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

The 44-year-old father was found by two members of the public lying face down in the road in the morning.

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

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

The family discovered he died after their mother called him ‘100 times’ and a stranger eventually answered it after finding it in a car park in Birmingham.

When they arrived at the scene, Mariam’s brother ‘begged’ the police to describe the person who died and then ‘he knew it was him’, she said. 

Speaking to The Sun, the audiologist likened her father’s last moments to something out of a ‘horror film’.

She said: ‘I still can’t stop thinking, why my Dad?’ 

Mariam said she tries to remember him for his ‘big heart’ and how much he loved his family. 

One of five siblings, Mariam said her father was happily married to her mother Nasira Mughal, 46, for over 20 years. The widow now visits his grave ‘every day’.

Mr Istakhar had worked as a taxi driver since he was 18-years-old and worked long shifts.

She is now calling for tighter regulations for late-night taxi drivers to keep them safe and more education in schools on the impact of knife crime.

But she told the newspaper that her family had never worried about him on the job because he was ‘muscular and strong’.

And because he ‘trusted people’ he never bothered with common precautions such as 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 had played with their pet cat before leaving for work at 3am. He usually returned at 7am, she said.

But that day, she received a call from her brother and he was ‘shouting that Dad was dead’.

At first, she thought it was an ‘awful mistake’. But her mother had called him ‘100 times’ and a stranger eventually answered it after finding it in a car park in Birmingham.

A helpful security guard also offered to show Mariam and her mother CCTV footage to help in their search for Mr Istakhar.

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

Mariam’s brother ‘begged’ the police to describe the person who died and when they described what their father had been wearing ‘he knew it was him’, she said.

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

The grieving daughter said her father was ‘lured’ to a remote country lane as the two teenagers left to get cash. But instead, they returned with ‘two large knives’.

They ‘ferociously’ stabbed him and when the taxi driver fled, they ‘hunted him down’.

His daughter said he had ‘begged for his life’ and told them he had a family.

Mariam said she thinks of her father’s last moments as like something ‘out of a horror film,’ as he ran for his life in the dark.

She said that he worked ‘back to back’ shifts for as long as she could remember to ‘provide for our family’. 

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

After the killing, Pugh and De-Fazio stole the taxi and drove it around the suburbs of the city.

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

Judge Simon Drew KC sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 27 years, minus the 289 days he has spent on remand. 

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

Speaking about the sentences, Mariam said she is ‘glad the jury saw [Pugh] for the monster that he really was’ but slammed the sanction handed to De-Fazio.

During the sentencing hearing, Mariam read a family impact statement to the court.

She said: ‘Our lives will never be the same again. We are not living we are existing. 

‘Passing time day-by-day, minute-by-minute until we are reunited with the love of our life again.

‘We barely saw him without his uniform. He spent most of his life working, saving and saving.

‘He built his dream home for us. He was so selfless.’

His daughter told the court that her father came to the country aged 13 and worked as a factory worker as well as a taxi driver.

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