Man with history of attacking strangers sentenced for attempted murder

A man who stabbed a woman walking home in Otay Mesa has been sentenced to 24 years in state prison.

Deputy District Attorney Patrick O’Neil asked Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Roderick Shelton to impose the 24 years to Farzad Daftari, 29, who pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the March 24, 2017 incident.

The woman, who is in her 20’s, had just gotten off a bus and was walking along Palm Avenue around 5:30 p.m. when Daftari approached her. He stabbed her in her upper torso and she fell to the ground. When she attempted to get up, Daftari stabbed her again. He then fled down the 2400 block of Palm Avenue.

A couple driving by saw what happened and one went to help the victim while the other followed Daftari to a parking lot. That’s where San Diego Police officers arrested him. The woman was taken to a hospital.

Daftari has a history of attacking strangers in public.

In 2013, he knocked a teen-ager off a skateboard in Encinitas, causing injury, and later he spit on a police officer who was investigating the incident with the teen-ager. Because of his criminal record, the spitting incident became a felony battery, and he pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and other charges. He was sentenced to 32 months in prison in 2014 in Vista Superior Court.

Shelton imposed five years for Daftari having a felony conviction as part of the 24-year term. He received credit for spending more than 1 1/2 years in jail on the current case. An assault charge was dismissed after he pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
The case was delayed while he was getting a psychiatric evaluation after his attorney doubted his mental competency. A judge found him mentally competent in August.