Star of the Apprentice filmed saving people from ‘psychotic’ knifeman

A video has been released showing the moment a star of The Apprentice helped to flag down police to stop a ‘psychotic’ knifeman from attacking members of the public.

Sohail Chowdhary starred on the BBC series in 2023, becoming the seventh candidate to be fired after being the project manager on a losing task.

The entrepreneur is a martial arts instructor and the founder of Limitless Martial Arts Southampton, AG Martial Arts and clothing brand Sunna Fightwear Ltd.

On August 3 last summer, between 12.40pm and 1pm, a man called Azzedvie Mahmoudi, 46, randomly attacked passersby outside an Aldi in Southampton, leaving two people injured after trying to attack seven.

 

CCTV footage of the incident has now been revealed, showing civilians pointing police officers in their cars towards the attacker.

Mahmoudi, a former maths teacher who has today been jailed for two years and six months at Southampton Crown Court, became ‘floridly psychotic’ after he stopped taking his medication for paranoid schizophrenia.

Video footage released today shows the moment a ‘heroic’ star of The Apprentice helped save members of the public from a ‘floridly psychotic’ knifeman who was randomly attacking passers-by.

TV star Sohail Chowdhary, who starred in season 17 of The Apprentice, bravely jumped into action when Azzedvie Mahmoudi, 46, attacked people with a kitchen knife outside an Aldi supermarket.

Two people were injured and children had to flee as crazed Mahmoudi carried out his frightening public attack. Mr Chowdhary, a martial arts instructor, stepped in by distracting Mahmoudi and warned nearby pedestrians.

Video footage shows him helping prevent further attacks and signalling to police where the attacker was.

Mahmoudi was today jailed for two years and six monts at Southampton Crown Court, Hants.

Chowdhary helped to distract Mahmoudi by throwing things at him, warned other members of the public, and motioned to the police where the attacker was.

Matthew Lawson, prosecuting, said: ‘[One man] got a trolley and used it to get the defendant away. He tried to run but tripped on a bollard and [Mahmoudi] stabbed at him, but he was pulled to safety by Mr Chowdhary.

‘Mr Chowdhary followed [Mahmoudi] to try to help people. They reached Empress Road when Mahmoudi attacked someone else.

He ran away and was followed by Mr Chowdhary. Someone driving their car attempted to drive into [Mahmoudi] but Mr Chowdhary told them not to do that. He shouted at people warning them to run away.

‘The police arrived with tasers and [Mahmoudi] was told to drop the knives on the ground. He complied.’

Investigating officer DC Ryan Mitchell said: ‘The fact no one was more seriously hurt or died as a result of this attack is in no small part thanks to the heroic actions of those members of the public, who, without a second thought for their own safety, bravely stepped in to help those around them and prevent him from sustaining his attacks much further before police arrived.’

While sentencing Mahmoudi, Judge William Mousley KC told him: ‘You had schizophrenia. That is a life long condition which needed and continues to need comprehensive treatment. You decided against medical advice to stop taking your medication which made your schizophrenia relapse.

‘You stopped because of your side effects but you thought you could manage without it. You were not aware of the consequences. You were floridly psychotic and experiencing persecutory hallucinations at the time of the offences and this reduces your culpability.’

Mahmoudi admitted two counts of unlawful wounding, one count of affray and two counts of possession of a bladed article.

In a post shared on Instagram last August, Chowdhary wrote: ‘Earlier today, an incident took place across the road from our martial arts unit in Southampton where a man wielding a large knife was attacking members of the public. A few of our team stepped in and undertook our duties to make sure the injuries caused to the public were minimal.

‘I want to give a huge thank you to three of our own – Viktor, Mohamed, and Jamie – for stepping in to help during a very tense moment and saving lives in today’s attack.