London stabbing: Awad Abdel Samad jailed for life for ‘Wild West’ murder of young Porsche driver Mohamed Abdi
The man who fatally stabbed a young Porsche driver in a scene likened to the ‘Wild West’ has been jailed for life.
24-year-old Awad Abdel Samad killed 19-year-old Mohamed Abdi on June 4, 2024.
Samad claimed he acted in self-defence during the incident on London’s busy Edgware Road.
But Judge Lynn Tayton told the Old Bailey on Thursday that what motivated him was his belief that Mr Abdi was involved in the kidnapping and torture of a friend two days earlier.
The judge said Samad was motivated by revenge and “acted with extreme aggression and persistence”.
He sentenced Samad to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years for the murder of Mr. Abdi.
He told Samad that the attack “took place on a crowded street with many people in vehicles and on foot.”
“You can see how scary this is for the public.”
The judge told the court that on June 2, Samad’s friend Soufian Chafi was kidnapped and tortured, with footage of the attack showing him “naked and humiliated” on social media.
Although there was no evidence that Mr Abdi was involved, Samad and co-defendant Mohamad Mahmoud El-Hazzaa, 27, of Westminster, believed he was.
The court heard that on June 4, Samad was in the front passenger seat of the Seat Leon driven by Al-Hazzaa on the Edgware Road.
The victim, Mr. Abdi, was driving a Porsche Cayenne in which he approached the rear of the defendants’ car and flashed its headlights.
Both cars stopped and Samad got out of the vehicle with a knife in his hand.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC had earlier told jurors: “You may have thought this was like something from the Wild West.
“Mohamed Abdi clearly saw him coming and went out. Then the two started fighting. Mohamed Abdi also had a knife in his hand.
“However, within seconds of the start of the fight, the defendant gained a very significant advantage.
“He kicked and managed to knock Mohamed Abdi’s knife out of his hand and onto the road. This meant that now only one of them had a knife – the defendant.”
The court was told the victim, who was unarmed, backed away and got into the Porsche, where the defendant followed and reached him before closing the car door.
Samad then stabbed Mr Abdi three times, once in the chest area leading from the rib cartilages to the heart, the court heard.
While the defendant fled in the Seat Leon, Mr. Abdi, despite the efforts of the public and paramedics, managed to drive his car towards Bell Street, where he died.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Abdi’s mother Sharon and sister Amirah described him as a “dear son and loving brother” and a “young man with a lot to live for”.
Judge Tayton said: “They fear his life will be stolen.”
Al-Hazzaa was sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
