A violent control freak used a tracking device to find out where his estranged wife was then launched a frenzied attack with a "Rambo-style knife" on a man she was with.
Tanya Hejazi was visiting Fafa Fajjo when ex partner, Afshin Hejazi, suddenly burst in with his face covered in a mask, armed with a blade and intent on doing serious harm to a man he had never met. He repeatedly stabbed Mr Fajjo and also assaulted Tanya in the terrifying episode.
It was in the early hours of October 27 last year that Tanya, 39, decided to visit Mr Fajjo, at a multi-occupancy house on Tennant Street, South Shields. They were sitting on the bed speaking and after around 30 minutes she got a messages from her estranged husband, the father of the youngest three of her four children.
Read more: Armed gang raided OAP's home over £75,000 rumour but fled with just £10 after he fought back
Hejazi said to her: "Did I fix your car to go and **** your boyfriend. Go home watch your kids crying" then added "Go home Tanya." Richard Herrmann, prosecuting, said: "She was shocked and frightened at having received the message and couldn't understand how he could know where she was and what she was doing.
"Within the next confused minutes the defendant appeared in that bedroom, wearing a black hooded top with the hood up and a bandana tied over his face, so only his eyes could be seen." Without a word being said he reached into the waistband of his trousers and pulled out a "Rambo-style knife", ran towards Mr Fajjo and in a "frenzied attack" repeatedly stabbed him with the weapon.
Giving evidence during the trial at Newcastle Crown Court, Tanya said she had met Mr Fajjo about four or five weeks before the stabbing, during a night out at Roxannes nightclub in South Shields. They then exchanged numbers and had been chatting over WhatsApp. On the night of the stabbing she had gone to visit Mr Fajjo at his home.
She said they went into his bedroom , which was the only private part of the shared accommodation and added: "I was just sat on the bed. He was showing me pictures of his family." Mrs Herjazi said she got two text messages, one of which mentioned her being with a boyfriend and a call from her husband while she was there, which she did not answer.
She told the court this made her "scared, panicked and shaken". She added: "I was really confused how he knew where I was. I didn't know what was going on. A couple of minutes later I heard a bang but I just thought it was someone else who lived in the house, then his door flew open. It was Afshin stood there.
"He was wearing black cargo pants, a hoodie and camouflage mask thing across his face. You could just see his eyes. He had his hood up. He put his hand in his pants and pulled the knife out and just went straight for Fafa. He didn't even say a a word, nothing at all. He just ran towards Fafa and was just stabbing him, trying to stab him."
Tanya said she saw "three or four plunges" with the knife but was unsure how many went into Mr Fajjo. She added: "I tried to pull Afshin off him at one point and Afshin turned and the point of the knife went in my wrist. The look in his eyes, I knew, I just ran.
"I just ran, I saw his eyes and thought 'he's going to end up killing him and killing me' and I just went to get help. I was frozen. I was shaken.
"I thought he was going to come after me and kill me. I was terrified to move. He was trying to kill Fafa. I think he would have killed me, I don't know."
Mr Herrmann said: "The attack only stopped at the point where Mr Fajjo got the better of the defendant, causing him to drop the knife. He then pushed the defendant into a wall, creating enough space for him to break free and run from the house.
"So scared was Mr Fajjo he estimated he ran for 10 to 20 minutes to get away before eventually turning and going back home."
As she ran from the house, she heard Mr Fajjo's screams. She hid behind parked cars and in a garden and asked local residents to call the police. Mr Fajjo suffered between three and six stab wounds, including one which penetrated his chest cavity and damaged his lung and one to his abdomen.
The question of how he knew where to find them, given it was the first time she had gone to Mr Fajjo's home, was answered when police found a tracking device on Tanya's car, which had been put there by Hejazi. He had an app on his phone showing him every time the car moved and displayed a real-time location for it.
She later found he had been accessing her social media and messaging accounts and even after he was remanded in custody, he continued to try to control her by writing a letter, ostensibly to their daughter, saying he was going to be in prison for years because of Tanya and asking her to drop the case, saying he had done nothing wrong.
Mr Herrmann added: "Tanya said he had directly threatened her if she was with another man near to their children he would kill her and whoever she was with. He said he didn't care and prison would not bother him."
When interviewed by police, he claimed the pair were having sex when he turned up, despite the fact the evidence was they were both fully clothed and they said they were just talking.
Hejazi pleaded guilty to wounding with intent on Mr Fajja, attempting to pervert the course of justice and possessing a knife. He was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Tanya and cleared of attempting to murder Mr Fajja.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on October 7. Judge Paul Sloan QC warned him he faces a substantial custodial sentence.
Read next:
- Boss left worker with brain bleed in drunken Newcastle city centre attack
- Benwell thug attacked girlfriend after telling her: 'God has presented me to batter you'
- Gateshead football hooligan jailed for violent disorder against Black Lives Matter supporters
- Former Northumbria Police worker jailed for 'terrifying' anonymous calls threatening to stab teenager
- Cheeky thug bares bottom to judge after being jailed for threatening to kill probation officers
