Mohamed Shabaz, 19, of Manchester Road, Oldham, has today (27 May) been sentenced to 21 years behind bars following a violent knife attack in January last year.
The court heard how on Saturday 30 January 2021, Shabaz approached his victim when he was arriving at the Markazia Mosque in the Darnall area of Sheffield and violently attacked him. Shabaz attacked his victim from behind, stabbing him numerous times with a large kitchen knife, before fleeing the scene leaving him for dead.
The victim, a man aged 23, received life threatening injuries as a result of the attack and spent a number of weeks in hospital recovering from his injuries.
Detective Constable Leon Hobson, from Sheffield’s CID team, said: “This was an extremely violent pre-planned attack that happened in broad daylight, and outside a place of worship just before prayer time, causing great shock within the local community.
“Shabaz travelled to Darnall from Oldham in a stolen car and waited for the victim outside of the mosque before approaching him from behind and stabbing him repeatedly.
“Shabaz then fled the scene in the stolen vehicle, where CCTV evidence showed that he sought to abandon it and made a failed attempt to set it on fire by dosing it in petrol, but it failed to light.
“Medical experts present at court stated that if it had not been for the assistance of members of the public, paramedics and surgeons, the victim would have certainly died as a result of the attack.
“I am pleased that Shabaz’s sentence reflects the severity of his actions and he is now behind bars for a very long time where he can cause no further harm.”
Following extensive CCTV and forensic examinations, detectives were able to identify Shabaz as the perpetrator of the attack and on 25 November 2021, he was arrested and later charged with attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.
Shabaz was found guilty of both charges at Sheffield Crown Court today, Friday 27 May, and sentenced to 21 years.
He denied the offence throughout, with the Judge commenting when passing sentence that when Shabaz gave his evidence, it amounted to “a confection of falsehoods you peddled in the box” that the jury saw through.
