A knifeman who repeatedly stabbed his brother-in-law, as he lay sleeping next to his wife and two children, has been convicted of wounding with intent.
Faheen Majeed (30) was acquitted of a more serious offence of attempting to murder Mohammad Zaid - who suffered 18 knife wounds to his head and neck.
Judge Nicholas Dean QC adjourned the case for sentencing, but said the defendant’s jail term was likely to be in “double figures.”
Majeed denied the offences claiming he acted in self-defence; an account rejected unanimously by the jury of five women and seven men.
Leicester Crown Court was told the defendant and victim had married each other’s sisters.
Majeed became estranged from his wife, the mother of his three children, and ended up staying as a guest at Mr Zaid’s home in Humberstone Drive, Leicester.
James Varley, prosecuting, said that Mr Zaid’s in-laws – the parents of his wife and the defendant – had come over from Belgium and were also staying there.
On January 20, the defendant made an unwelcome visit to his estranged wife, causing Mr Zaid to intervene and warn him not to go there again. The following morning the defendant went into Mr Zaid’s bedroom, where he was sleeping with his wife and two children, aged two and four. He then repeatedly stabbed Mr Zaid with such force the large carving knife he was wielding bent and then snapped in two.
The bedroom was splattered with blood during a violent struggle.
Mr Zaid’s wife tried to stop her brother from attacking her husband and suffered a cut hand. Their four-year-old son, although physically unhurt, ended up covered in his father’s blood.
The victim suffered gaping stab wounds to his head and cuts on his neck, which were stitched, glued and stapled in hospital – and he underwent an operation to a deep defence wound on his left hand.
