A jilted man who slashed the throats of his ex-fiancé and her lover has been found guilty of attempting to murder them in the street.
Bharat Soma committed the "revenge" knife attack upon Darshana Narotam, 17, and Prashant Govinde, 22, after they eloped to Leicester.
He was also convicted by a jury of unlawfully wounding a 15-year-old boy who tried to stop the potentially lethal attack, on January 19.
Soma of Stroud Road, North Evington, who denied the offences, is due to receive a substantial jail term when he is sentenced at Leicester Crown Court tomorrow.
When the guilty verdicts were announced, Soma, wearing jeans and a checked shirt, stood completely still in the dock and showed no emotion or response.
During the 34-day trial he claimed he was the victim of a black magic curse and did not intend killing anyone.
He said: "My mind wasn't working at the time."
Adrienne Lucking QC, prosecuting, said Darshana, defied her parents' attempts to force her into a marriage with Soma, because she loved Prashant.
She ran away from her home in Wembley to start a new life with Prashant in Leicester – where Soma also lived.
Soma, who felt rejected and betrayed, received a tip-off call from a friend, informing him the couple were shopping in East Park Road.
He immediately went and bought a knife and tracked them down, launching an attack at a pedestrian crossing at the junction with St Saviour's Road.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, Darshana – who has since married Prashant - told the jury she feared they would die in the attack.
She described screaming as she was grabbed from behind and knifed across the throat.
Prashant who tried to rescue her was stabbed through the neck and had his face slashed, whilst a boy with them received a severely cut hand.
The jury also convicted, Darshana's father, Narotam Deugi, 41, of common assault upon her, by putting his hands around her throat in a separate incident, at the family home in Belmont Avenue, Wembley, on December 20 last year.
Her father and mother, Parvati Natu, 42, were both acquitted of falsely imprisoning her in her bedroom.
Deugi was acquitted with four other family members of kidnapping Prashant's father, in an attempt to find the missing couple.
Deugi, was originally charged with conspiracy to murder his daughter and served 100 days on remand in custody before that allegation was dropped.
He received a 12 month conditional discharge for the common assault.
Sentencing Deugi, High Court Judge, Mr Justice Saunders said: "The jury found you grabbed your daughter around the throat during an argument about whether she had to marry Soma as you wished, or Prashant, as she wished.
"You didn't give her a free choice as to who she should marry, as you have claimed.
"I'm concerned there must be no more trouble.
"The sentence I'm passing is lenient and that's only because of the 100 days already spent in custody.
"In my judgement you've suffered enough punishment already."
Soma's defence counsel, Jo Sidhu QC said that although Soma was not suffering from a "classified" mental illness he was "disturbed, troubled and depressed" after being jilted.
Mr Sidhu said: "He had nightmares and was seeing ghosts."
Darshana's four Wembley-based relatives, who were all acquitted of kidnapping Prashant's father, are: Jignesh Devgi, 31, an uncle, of Bridgewater Road, Harsad Jagdish, 25, an uncle, of Bridgewater Road, Shantilal Natu, 37, an uncle, of Belmont Avenue, and Kaushik Meghji, 18, a cousin, of Heather Park Parade.
Detective Inspector John Farndon, of Leicestershire Police's serious crime team, said after the verdicts were announced: "These were dreadful crimes, and could easily have caused the deaths of two young people who had harmed no-one.
"Crimes like these are very rare, and are sometimes called honour based violence. However, this has nothing to do with culture or religion, this is simple criminality."
In June, the Government introduced a new law where forced marriages were made a criminal offence.
Honour-based violence is defined as an incident or crime which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family or community.
Forced Marriage is defined where one or both spouses do not (or in the case of some vulnerable adults, cannot) consent to the marriage and duress is involved. Duress can include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure.
Leicestershire Police is currently one of nine forces working with Karma Nirvana, a charity with more than 20 years' experience providing support to victims of forced marriage and honour-based violence.
A police spokesperson said: "The Force has been working closely with the charity to train its officers to ensure they become specialists in this rare but very serious crime. Thirty two police officers, who already work in this field, took part in a three day course run by Karma Nirvana in September to give them the skills to risk assess and investigate a very serious and complex area of crime.
"All front line officers and relevant staff will also receive a half day input to ensure they are confident to spot the signs of vulnerability and how to deal with it."
Detective Inspector Farndon added: "During our initial inquiries this case was quickly identified as being one of honour based violence and concerns regarding a possible forced marriage.
"This case demonstrates that we take crimes of this nature incredibly seriously and we hope it gives potential victims the confidence to report it to the police or other agencies.
"Anyone who fears they may be subjected to honour based violence or have concerns about someone else should contact us at the earliest opportunity. There are a range of criminal and civil powers we and partner agencies can put in place to keep you safe."
