17th February

 
Mohammed Algasim, 20, was sat with friends outside of student accommodation near Cambridge Railway Station when he was stabbed in the evening of August 1, 2025.

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Prosecutor Nicholas Hearn told Cambridge Crown Court on February 17 that Chas Corrigan, 22, who had been drinking in a pub and may have taken drugs, stabbed Mr Algasim with a kitchen knife.

Chas Corrigan, of Holbrook Road, Cambridge denies murder.

The court heard that the stabbing was “captured by a high-quality CCTV camera positioned outside of the student accommodation”.

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In footage played to jurors, Mr Algasim is seen sitting on a low wall with a group of people.

Chas Corrigan walks towards the group in a hi-vis jacket.

Mr Hearn said a fellow student of Mr Algasim, Abdullah Bin Shuail, “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”.

He said Corrigan walked away from the group.

Mr Hearn said that as the defendant walked away, Mr Bin Shuail heard Mr Algasim say something to the defendant but “could only make out one word, ‘centre’”.

“When Mr Algasim said this the defendant turned and started to come back towards them,” Mr Hearn said.

The prosecutor said the defendant said “what did you say, what did you say?” and that this was “in a very angry and aggressive way”.

He said Mr Bin Shuail “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”.

Mr Algasim died of a single stab wound which cut across the carotid artery and jugular vein “causing massive bleeding”, Mr Hearn said.

He said that earlier that evening a woman who knew Corrigan, Simona Mikskyte, saw Corrigan and formed the view he may have taken drugs.

Mr Hearn said “although she knew he had been drinking, she had seen him drunk on previous occasions and this (behaviour) seemed different”.

Mr Hearn said a man who had been at the Earl of Derby pub, where Corrigan had been drinking, said Corrigan had earlier that evening showed him a knife tucked into his shorts.

Stephen Papillon said he thought Corrigan, whom he did not know, “was simply showing off”, Mr Hearn said, and that “the defendant told him he had been shot and stabbed before”.

Mr Papillon said he had not felt threatened.

Mr Hearn told the court that Mr Algasim “posed no threat to anybody” and was a student who had come to Cambridge from Saudi Arabia.

Mr Hearn continued: “The defendant was the aggressor here.

“He approached Mr Algasim holding a knife in his pocket ready to be used.

“He then made a deliberate decision to use that knife to deliberately stab Mr Algasim.

“This was an unprovoked and senseless act of violence.

“It was not an accident. It was not self-defence. It was murder.”

He told jurors Corrigan has admitted to being in possession of a knife in Mill Park Road.

Jane Osborne KC, opening the defence case, said Corrigan “had a kitchen knife … tucked into his waistband rather than in the pocket”.

“He will tell you he had no intention of using that knife,” she said.

“He had it with him so if he was attacked as he had been in the past he could frighten off any attacker.

“He wanted to prevent himself being a victim of violence again.”

She said Corrigan will say “in the incident Mr Algasim was standing in front of him, he thought Mr Algasim was acting aggressively”.

“He thought he (Corrigan) was imminently going to be attacked so he produced the knife,” she said.

“Having produced the knife Mr Corrigan had no intention of using it to cause Mr Algasim any harm …

“He intended to wave it between them.

“He will say he had no idea he had made contact with Mr Algasim with the knife.”

The trial continues.