Evening Standard/London
CCTV footage has shown the moment a jealous man launched a “ferocious” knife attack on a love rival that left his victim lying dead on the floor of his east London mini cab office.
Gulam Chowdhury, 24, of Heenan Close, Barking, entered the cab office in Stratford armed with an eight-inch bladed knife and savagely attacked 22-year-old Mohamed Afzal who had been in a long-term relationship with a woman Chowdhury had also been seeing.
Chowdhury, who stabbed his victim 20 times, was yesterday sentenced to 28 years in prison at the Old Bailey.
CCTV released by Metropolitan Police yesterday shows Chowdhury entering the cab office with a large blade and jumping over the counter to attack his victim.
The court heard how Chowdhury plotted to kill Mohamed at his place of work and make the incident look like a robbery gone wrong.
Witnesses at the scene subsequently described to police how Chowdhury, wearing a distinctive ‘JD Sports’ shoulder bag, had been seen lurking in the vicinity of the cab office in the minutes leading up to the attack on the evening of March 24, 2014.
Speaking after the sentencing detective inspector Euan McKeeve, of the homicide and major crime command, who led the investigation, said: “Gulam Chowdhury carried out a ferocious assault on Mohamed Afzal. The level of violence used was shocking and ensured that Mohamed would not survive the attack.
“Whatever Mohamed’s motives were for the actions he took in attempting to maintain his relationship with a woman, he did not deserve to be murdered.
“It is thanks to the thorough and meticulous work of my officers who have worked tirelessly since Mohamed’s murder that we have managed to prove Chowdhury planned, and then executed, this vicious assault which ended in the savage murder of a young man.”
Gulam Chowdhury
