A man has been found guilty of murdering a Saudi Arabian student in an unprovoked attack in Cambridge.
Chas Corrigan, 22, knifed Mohammed Algasim, 20, outside student accommodation near the city’s train station late on 1 August, last year.
Mr Algasim, who had never met Corrigan before, was stabbed in the neck in an “unprovoked and senseless act of violence”, a prosecutor at Cambridge Crown Court said.
Corrigan, of Holbrook Road, Cambridge, who denied murder but admitted possession of a knife, was found guilty of murdering Mr Algasim on Monday.
Prosecutor Nicholas Hearn said Corrigan had been drinking in a pub and may have used drugs before using the kitchen knife in the attack.
Mr Hearn added that the stabbing was “captured by a high-quality CCTV camera positioned outside the student accommodation”.
It showed Mr Algasim, who “posed no threat to anybody” and was on a 10-week placement studying English, sitting on a low wall with a group of others when Corrigan walked towards the group.
Abdullah Bin Shuail, a fellow student of Mr Algasim, “heard the defendant say something to Mr Algasim but he could not hear what was said and he could not hear whether Mr Algasim said anything in reply”.
Mr Bin Shuail said Corrigan then walked away towards the train station but then heard Mr Algasim say something to the defendant “but could only make out one word, ‘centre'”.
After this was said the defendant turned and walked towards them asking “what did you say, what did you say?” in a “very angry and aggressive way”, the court heard.
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Mr Bin Shuail then “saw the defendant punch Mr Algasim hard to the left side of his neck” and “then saw that the defendant was holding a large knife in his right hand”.
The victim died of a single stab wound which cut across the carotid artery and jugular vein “causing massive bleeding”, Mr Hearn said.
Corrigan will be sentenced on Wednesday.
