A construction worker who fatally stabbed a young Saudi student in an unprovoked attack in Cambridge, England has been jailed for more than 22 years, reports the Daily Mail.
22-year-old Chas Corrigan was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 and a half years after being convicted of murdering 20-year-old Mohammed Algasim during a violent confrontation near the city centre on August 1 last year.
Algasim was attending an English language programme in Cambridge and spending his third summer in the city. He died after being stabbed in the neck with a large kitchen knife.
Passing sentence, Justice Dexter Dias KC described the attack as an act of "senseless violence" fuelled by alcohol, cocaine and anger.
"Perhaps no one will ever understand why Chas Corrigan did what he did," the judge said.
He added: "It was literally senseless violence. It was fuelled by alcohol and cocaine and anger. It was a lethal combination. Mohammed Algasim was an innocent member of the public. He had most of his life ahead of him. He was robbed of that and his family were robbed of him."
Corrigan approached Algasim while he was sitting outside student accommodation with friends. The pair exchanged words and Corrigan initially walked away. However, after hearing a further comment, which included the word "centre", he turned back and confronted the student.
Corrigan became aggressive, repeatedly demanding, "What did you say? What did you say?"
As Algasim stood up holding a mobile phone, Corrigan stabbed him in the neck before fleeing the scene.
CCTV footage shown during the trial captured the moments after the attack, with the injured student running away in panic while Corrigan walked off before eventually breaking into a sprint.
Friends attempted to save Algasim by following instructions from a 999 operator and applying pressure to the wound. However, he collapsed and died the following morning.
A post-mortem examination found he had suffered a 4.5-inch-deep wound that severed a major artery in his neck.
Corrigan denied murder and claimed he acted in self-defence. He told jurors he thought Algasim was about to "hurt me" and insisted he did not realise he had struck him with the knife.
"I didn't think I'd hit him. I just thought I'd swung it. He was a step away and I thought I'd swung it between us," he said during the trial.
He also claimed he carried the knife for protection because he had previously been attacked.
However, prosecutors argued that Algasim posed no threat.
"Mr Algasim posed no threat to anybody. The defendant was the aggressor here," prosecutor Nicholas Hearn told the court.
Jurors took just two hours to find Corrigan guilty in March.
Corrigan had consumed large amounts of alcohol and taken cocaine before the attack. He admitted drinking several alcoholic drinks and using cocaine twice that evening.
Mohammed's father, Yousef Algasim, described the devastating loss of his son.
"I prepared him for life, not for death," he said.
"Instead of witnessing his achievements, I was confronted with the unbearable reality of receiving his lifeless body."
He added that Mohammed's mother had been left shattered by the tragedy.
"She lives as though without a soul, holding on only to memories of his laughter, his presence in our house and the sound of his voice."
Following the killing, Corrigan discarded the knife and his high-visibility jacket as he fled. His father, Peter Corrigan, later admitted assisting an offender after helping recover and dispose of evidence linked to the crime.
The 51-year-old was sentenced to 24 months in prison.
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