Jealous husband launched double knife attack in South Shields after fitting secret GPS tracker to estranged wife's car

The GPS device Afshin Hejazi, 45, under estranged wife Tanya Hejazi's vehicle was connected to an app on his phone that showed where she was driving in real time.

Newcastle Crown Court heard on October 27 last year the display revealed the 39-year-old mum was parked up outside the home of Fafa Fajjo, 24, in South Shields.

In response, delivery driver Hejazi travelled to the address with an eight inch Rambo-style knife, put on a hood and mask, repeatedly stabbed Mr Fajjo then turned the knife on Mrs Hejazi and caused a cut to her wrist.

Prosecutor Richard Herrmann told the court Mrs Hejazi and Mr Fajjo had been sitting on his bed when she started to receive text messages and calls from her husband, which left her shaken.

Mr Herrmann added: "Within the next confused minutes, this defendant Mr Herjazi appeared in that bedroom, wearing a black hooded top with the hood up and a bandana over his face.

"Without a word being said, he reached down into his waistband of his trousers and pulled out an eight inch bladed Rambo-style knife and ran towards them."

Mr Herrmann said Mr Fajjo was the victim of a "frenzied attack" and was repeatedly stabbed with the knife but was then able to get the better of Herjazi and push him away.

Mr Herrmann added: "So scared was Mr Fajjo he estimates he ran for between ten and 20 minutes to get away before eventually turning to make his way back in the direction of home."

The court heard as Mrs Herjazi tried to pull her husband away from Mr Fajjo during the attack he turned the knife on her too and caused a cut to her wrist.

She ran from the house but was able to "hear the screams of Mr Fajjo" until she was some distance away.

The court heard Mrs Herjazi went to a stranger's house for help and asked them to call the police, while she hid in their garden.

One of Mr Fajjo's wounds penetrated his chest cavity and damaged his lung, which resulted in air and blood leaking into his chest.

Another entered his abdomen.

Mr Herrmann added: "After the events the police located a device which had been attached to the underside of Tanya Herjazi's car.

"That had been done by the defendant and he had an app on his phone that told him every time the car moved in real time and the location of the vehicle."Mr Herrmann said Mrs Herjazi later discovered her husband, who she split from in 2019, had been accessing her social media and messaging services.

Mrs Herjazi said from the witness box she did not know there was as device under her car but recalled a suspicious incident that happened earlier.

She told the court: "One time I went to the gym with my friend in Sunderland. He Facetimed me and said 'why are you at a gym in Sunderland'. I said how do you know where I am and he laughed it off.

"He later said his friend had seen me."

Mrs Herjazi said in the weeks before the stabbing she had told her estranged husband they should get divorced, he should go to Iran, make himself happy and get remarried.

She told the court 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 started chatting over Whatsapp.

On the night of the stabbing she had gone to visit Mr Fajjo at his home, which was shared accommodation.

She said they went into his bedroom as that was the only part of the building that was private to him 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 ignored.

She told the court the contact made her feel "scared, I panicked, I was 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 word, nothing at all.

"He just ran towards Fafa and was just stabbing him, trying to stab him."

Mrs Herjazi said she saw "three or four plunges" with the knife but was unsure how many went into Mr Fajjo.

"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,” she said.

"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."

Giving evidence from the witness box, Mr Fajjo confirmed Hejazi stabbed him with the knife four times, although a medical examination showed he had six puncture wounds.

Hejazi, of Second Avenue, Chester-le-Street, denied attempted murder of Mr Fajjo and assault on Mrs Hejazi during a trial

He was found not guilty of attempted murder but guilty of the assault on his wife.

Hejazi had already admitted wounding Mr Fajjo with intent, knife possession and perverting the course of justice in relation to a letter he sent to Mrs Hejazi's home in a bid to get her to drop the charges.

He will be sentenced in October and has been remanded in custody in the meantime.

Judge Paul Sloan QC told him: "You should understand, the fact I am adjourning sentence and the fact I am directing the preparation of a pre-sentence report is not an indication of the actual sentence that will be imposed.

"You will have been told already you face a substantial immediate custodial sentence."