By: Yuritza Arroyo
Union County authorities announced that a Bloomfield man who was convicted in November of attempting to murder a Lyft driver and assaulting another passenger before carjacking the vehicle in April of 2019 has been sentenced to a total of 29 years in State Prison.
According to officials, a Union County Superior Court Judge imposed the term on 31-year-old Farrakhan Howard, handing down a 24-year sentence on his carjacking conviction, an 18-year concurrent sentence on the attempted murder, and a 5-year consecutive sentence for the aggravated assault on the passenger, this past Friday.
Officials say Howard must serve at least 85% of the 24-year term on the carjacking before the possibility of parole on that count, then must serve the additional 5-year term before being eligible for release.
According to Clark Police, at approximately 1 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, April 24, 2019, officers patrol units responded to the area of Westfield Avenue and found a 47-year-old man bleeding from stab wounds and cuts to his head, face, and neck, according to Assistant Prosecutor Izabella Wozniak who prosecuted the case along with Assistant Prosecutor Alexandra Pecora.
Soon after, Officers from the Rahway Police Department located a 20-year-old woman who was also suffering from stab wounds to her head and scratches to her neck, Wozniak added.
According to authorities, testimony during the trial revealed that Howard was in the male victim’s Lyft vehicle with the female passenger.
Authorities say at some point during the trip, Howard assaulted and stabbed the female victim.
At that point, the Lyft driver stopped the vehicle to help the female, and Howard stabbed him several times before carjacking the car.
Police say both victims escaped before being located by Clark and Rahway officers.
Howard drove off and was eventually arrested and charged after crashing the victim’s vehicle in Woodbridge.
