A Saudi Arabian student was fatally stabbed by a stranger while happily chatting with friends outside his Cambridge accommodation, a court has heard.
Chilling CCTV Captures Deadly Attack
Mohammed Algasim, 20, was sitting with pals near Cambridge Railway Station on the evening of August 1, 2025, when he was stabbed. The attack was caught on a high-quality CCTV camera outside the student housing.
The footage shows Chas Corrigan, 22, walking over in a hi-vis jacket. A friend of Mr Algasim, Abdullah Bin Shuail, says Corrigan said something to the victim, but the words were unclear. Moments later, Corrigan walks away, only to return aggressively after hearing Mr Algasim say the word “centre.”
Prosecutor Brands Attack ‘Unprovoked and Senseless’
Prosecutor Nicholas Hearn told Cambridge Crown Court that Corrigan punched Mr Algasim in the neck, then stabbed him with a kitchen knife. The blow cut through key arteries, causing massive bleeding that led to Mr Algasim’s death.
Mr Hearn said Corrigan had been drinking and possibly taking drugs earlier that evening at a local pub. Witnesses reported Corrigan showing off a knife and boasting about previous violent encounters. “The defendant was the aggressor,” said Mr Hearn. “This was an unprovoked and senseless act of violence. It was murder.”
Defence Claims No Intent to Kill
Chas Corrigan denies murder. Defence lawyer Jane Osborne KC revealed Corrigan carried the kitchen knife tucked into his waistband, claiming it was for protection only. Corrigan will say he believed Mr Algasim was acting aggressively and produced the knife to scare him off, not to use it. She added, “He had no idea he made contact with Mr Algasim with the knife.”
The trial is ongoing.
