Posted on the 21st October 2025 in PHTM News

NEWCASTLE CABBIE JAILED FOR NINE YEARS AFTER THROWING HOT OIL AT POLICEMAN

Mohammed Sarfaraz, a 45-year-old taxi driver, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for throwing boiling oil at two police officers, hitting one in the face and chest.

The taxi driver had previously called police to complain about not being allowed to see his children after the breakdown of his marriage and had been arrested in May last year after he refused to leave the area outside his former home in Newcastle, during which he kicked out at officers.

On 17 January this year, five officers went to a house in Kenton looking for Sarfaraz. His wife told them that he was at his parents' home in Gosforth, and as they left, they saw her making a phone call which Judge Robert Adams said was her "no doubt warning" Sarfaraz that the police were coming.

The court heard that after learning police were on their way to see him, Sarfaraz "deliberately heated a pan of oil" in his parents' kitchen to create a "highly dangerous weapon." 

At the Gosforth home, Sarfaraz's parents and sister were "obstructive" and "clearly not telling the truth" when they claimed he was not there.

After police entered the house "lawfully," a female officer found Sarfaraz in the kitchen holding a pan of boiling oil.

As she shouted at him to put it down, two male officers entered, and Sarfaraz swung the pan, striking one officer while the other "narrowly avoided being hit." 

Sarfaraz then fled into a garage, where a battering ram was used to enter, and Tasers were fired before he was arrested.

During his police interview, Sarfaraz claimed he had heated the oil to cook an egg, but Judge Adams said the officers' body-worn camera footage showed that to be "clearly untrue."

Sarfaraz was unanimously found guilty by jurors of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, attempted wounding, and affray following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

The injured police officer was left with "permanent scarring on his face and chest," and there were initial fears he might have been blinded.

In a statement read to the court, the officer said he was off work for a month and had to visit a burns unit every two or three days. He added that his children were "shocked" and "upset" to see his injuries.

Judge Adams noted that Sarfaraz still maintained his innocence, having written a 30-page letter to the court in which he blamed police for "terrorising" him and accused social workers of discriminating against him because he was a Muslim man. "I don't accept that," Judge Adams said.

The court heard Sarfaraz had been the suspect in 22 domestic violence reports between 2013 and 2024 and 44 child concern notifications.

The judge also revealed that Sarfaraz had tried to "blackmail" him by claiming he would kill himself if given a long prison sentence. 

"I'm not prepared to be threatened in that way," Judge Adams told Sarfaraz, calling it "inappropriate" to seek to put pressure on a judge to act "contrary to [his] duties." 

Sarfaraz had been assessed as posing a "high spousal assault risk" and a risk of serious harm to the public.


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