"Give me your car keys"
Abdul Ghaffar, aged 45, of Bradford, was jailed for three and a half years. The drug addict had threatened a pharmacist with a knife, punched her in the face and stole her car keys.
He was described as “out of his head” when he approached the 60-year-old pharmacist whom he had known for several years.
Bradford Crown Court heard how Ghaffar had regularly picked up a prescription to help in his treatment against Class A drug addiction from the pharmacy.
On the evening of February 3, 2021, the prosecution outlined how the pharmacist had closed the store and gone to her car when Ghaffar approached her.
Abdul Ghaffar initially asked for help before he demanded:
“Give me your car keys, I want to drive your car.”
When the pharmacist refused, he tried to grab her keys before pulling out a knife.
Recorder Joanne Kidd said:
“She was very scared so pushed the defendant causing him to fall backwards and tried to shut the door.”
At this point, he punched her in the face four or five times before she screamed for help.
The drug addict grabbed her car keys and ran off, while the pharmacist followed him and approached a group of boys to help her.
They asked Ghaffar for the bunch of keys and he returned them, but the pharmacist noticed that the car key was missing.
She approached the defendant and he then returned the key.
The knife, which had been lying on the floor, was missing when the pharmacist returned to the vehicle.
It was handed in to her the following day by an unnamed person.
In an interview, the drug addict initially denied the attack, saying he had approached the pharmacist because he was in a lot of pain and needed medication immediately.
Abdul Ghaffar later pleaded guilty to making threats with a knife, theft and assault by beating and was jailed for three and a half years.
Recorder Kidd added that the victim had “displayed enormous courage”.
In his defence, Ghaffar was said to have been without an interpreter and that his responses may have been “lost in translation”.
They added that his life had taken a turn six years ago when his wife left him and he was stopped from seeing his children.
He began taking drugs, but had been attempting to deal with his addiction – although his behaviour indicated he was “clearly under the influence of something”.
He has now engaged with the Change Grow Live programme.
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