19 Feb 2008
22 years jail for taxi driver's murderer
MURDERER Mohammed Mahroof Mustafa was sentenced to 22 years in
prison today for stabbing a taxi driver to death.
The 21-year-old from Mentmore Road, High Wycombe, appeared at
Reading Crown Court this morning to be sentenced for the murder of
39-year-old High Wycombe cabbie Mohammed Mahroof.
During a nine-day trial, the court heard that Mustafa and Asif Akram
Mohammed had planned to rob a taxi driver at knifepoint last May.
But the plan went wrong after Mustafa got into the cab to carry out the
robbery and ended up plunging the serrated kitchen knife into Mr
Mahroof's neck, fatally wounding him.
Judge Christopher Tyrer told him: "Yours was a desperate act born of no
more than a determination to obtain money with which to buy alcohol."
He added: "Only you know what went on between you and Mr Mahroof
during the 20-odd minutes that you and he were in his taxi. He must have
become increasingly suspicious and anxious; his final moments terrifying
as he tried to get help - you having left him to his fate and run away.
"He must have known how serious was his plight; he may well have
realised that he was dying."
Taking all mitigating factors into account, Judge Tyrer concluded the
minimum sentence Mustafa must serve is 22 years, less the six days he
spent in custody on remand awaiting trial.
Victim Mr Mahroof from Chiltern Avenue, left his wife Parween and two
children Qamran and Anika. Speaking after the sentencing, his family
said: "No sentence is enough for the innocent life which has been taken
away from us but we are happy that he got what he deserved and that he
won't be on the street for a long time."
Asif Akram Mohammed, Mustafa's co-defendant, will be sentenced at a
later date. The 26-year-old, from Roberts Road, High Wycombe, was
cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter having provided the
knife used in the botched robbery.
Source: Bucks Free Press
Related TDO Topic: High Wycombe Taxi Driver Murder Trial Begins
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