A pizza delivery driver found stabbed to death was about to finish his last ever shift after landing his dream job as an IT consultant.
University graduate Thavisha Lakindu Peiris, 25, had already officially finished work but took on two extra deliveries to help his boss out in Sheffield on Sunday.
It has been revealed the hard-working Sri Lankan had told his boss he felt unwell and wanted to finish work early, but his boss persuaded him to take on two extra jobs.
Mr Peiris studied IT at Sheffield Hallam University and had taken on the driving job while he was looking for work in the industry.
He left Domino's Pizza in Halifax Road at 9.50pm on Sunday, but when he failed to deliver the pizza on time his workmates went to find him and discovered his body slumped over the wheel of his Toyota Yaris car in Southey, at 10.30pm.
His distraught boss Ravi Marripidi said: 'I feel really guilty that I asked him to make those last two deliveries.
'He wanted to go home, but I asked him to make two last deliveries near each other.I have not been able to sleep since.
'Thavisha keeps coming into my dreams.'
A post mortem examination confirmed Thavisha, who was found outside his last delivery address in Southey Crescent, died from stab wounds.
Thavisha, a Buddhist from the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, lived in the Fir Vale area of the city and had worked for the pizza shop for two years after graduating from Sheffield Hallam University with a software engineering degree.
Mr Marripidi added: 'He moved here to study and for a better life, which is the irony.
'He was a very soft man and a very kind person.
'He was not aggressive, he did not argue with anyone, he just got on with his job.'
A murder squad of 50 police officers are now searching for the killers, but no motive has been found for the murder and three 16-year-old boys who were arrested and questioned have been released without charge.
Det Supt Lisa Ray, of South Yorkshire Police, who is leading the inquiry said: 'Thavisha was a bright, hard-working, intelligent and caring man who had worked hard to develop his career in Sheffield.
'His murder is an absolute tragedy and has caused untold grief for his mother, father and brother in Sri Lanka, and for his many friends.
'Everything we have learned suggests he was a career-minded, articulate and friendly young man who was very much planning his future.
'I need to hear from anyone who knows anything about his murder.
'We know he set off in his car from Domino’s at 9.50pm on Sunday to make that last delivery.
'At 10.30pm he was found dead in his car parked outside the address he was delivering to.
'It is urgent that anyone who saw him, or his car, or anything they now regard as suspicious, comes forward without delay.
'A family is grieving for a young man whose life was taken from him in the most brutal of fashions, and we owe it to them to find those responsible.'
In a press conference today Det Supt Ray added: 'He started his degree course at university in Sri Lanka and completed it in Sheffield, funded by his parents and he graduated in 2012.
'He spoke to his mother everyday, they are a very close family. He worked as part time pizza delivery driver to help fund his education.
There was a genuine call for a pizza but it was never delivered. Staff couldn't find him and they discovered him slumped in his car with stab wounds.
'It's horrendous that this sort of thing should happen. We haven't got a motive for it, Thavisha was nice boy and there was no reason to believe that anyone would have any issue with him. He was not the sort of person who would get into trouble.
'He was going about his business and somebody has attacked without any reason.He had got himself a good degree and was about to start a job as an IT consultant in Sheffield.
'It's tragic because with most murders they are committed by someone known to the victim and usually there is a motive.With this one we don't know why somebody would want to do this.
'He spoke to his mother every day and I am just appealing to any mother or anyone else out there. They know whose has done this and they need to come forward and tell us.'
Thavisha’s family in Sri Lanka were yesterday making plans to travel to Sheffield.
The killing on Sunday night bears tragic similarities to the murder of pizza shop worker Zabi Rafiq, stabbed to death in 2011 in a botched robbery for his takings on Gleadless Valley.
He had moved to Sheffield from Afghanistan hoping for a better life.
And in 2009 Safrajur Jahangir, 23, was shot dead at the wheel of his car while delivering an Indian takeaway on Scraith Wood Drive, Shirecliffe. Nobody was convicted.
The best option is to listen to your mind and don't be in a hurry.
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