County Durham man launched knife attack after tracking ex-wife with secret tracking device

A man who used a tracking device on his ex-wife's car before launching an attack with a "Rambo-style knife" on a man she had recently met has been jailed for 13-and-a-half-years.

Every time Afshin Hejazi's ex-wife's car moved, he was able to check a real-time location on an app.

It meant when she visited a man at his home in South Shields for the first time, the 45-year-old knew exactly where to find her.

Mr Hejazi, 45, of Second Avenue, Chester-le-Street, donned a mask to hide his face and armed himself with a blade before texting his ex-wife.

She was chatting with the man when she read a text that said: "Did I fix your car to go and **** your boyfriend? Go home and watch your kids crying."

Ms Hejazi could not understand how her ex-husband knew where she was and had no idea of what was about to happen.

Prosecutors at Newcastle Crown Court said: "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 speaking, he reached into the waistband of his trousers and pulled out a "Rambo-style knife", ran towards the victim and in a "frenzied attack" repeatedly stabbed him with the weapon.

His ex-wife said: "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 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."

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 her mother and asking her to drop the case, saying he had done nothing wrong.

The woman, who had been separated from her ex-husband for three years at the time, said he had mentally tortured her for the past 20 years and threatened to harm any new man she met if she let them near their children after they split.

She added: "We are still both living in fear of Afshin and are frightened he will get let out of prison and find us. I was told Afshin said when he gets out he will come back for us and will do a better job and won't make mistakes this time. It's awful and we are living a nightmare.

"If he gets out I want to run away. He has mentally tortured me for 20 years and is still doing it. He is a volatile and dangerous man and he doesn't care about family and who he hurts."

The stabbing victim added: "I'm fortunate I'm still alive. I feel this man has no regrets about what he has done.

"I have nightmares and see this man in my dreams. When I close my eyes I can see the eyes of this man when he attacked me again and again.

"I feel when he is released from prison he will come back and do it again. No matter where we go this man will try to find us. It's put me in constant fear of our lives.

"I think he is a dangerous and aggressive man. I'm trapped in a nightmare and living in fear every day."

Christopher Knox, defending, said there was another side to Hejazi and handed in references about him but his client pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, attempting to pervert the course of justice and possessing a knife.

He was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on his ex-wife and cleared of attempted murder.

He was jailed for 13-and-a-half years and given a ten-year restraining order at Newcastle Crown Court.

His victims told the court how they live in fear that he will carry out threats to come back for them when he is released.

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