Murder accused 'mortified' at student death, trial hears

A man accused of murdering a student in Cambridge has told a jury he was "mortified" when he found out that the victim had died.

Mohammed Algasim, 20, from Saudi Arabia, was stabbed while sitting with friends outside student accommodation near the city's main railway station shortly before 23:30 BST on 1 August.

Prosecutors say Chas Corrigan attacked him with a kitchen knife after "an evening of drinking and using drugs".

The 22-year-old told the trial at Cambridge Crown Court: "I was mortified. I couldn't get my head around it, the whole situation."

Corrigan, of Holbrook Road in Cambridge, denies murder.

Jurors have seen CCTV footage showing Corrigan, in a high-vis top, approach the group.

He is seen talking to Algasim, who is sitting on a low wall, then walking away, before returning and becoming involved in a confrontation.

Questioned by his barrister, Corrigan told the court he did not know what Algasim had said to him, but that "it was called in my direction".

The video showed Algasim standing up, which Corrigan described as leaving him feeling "startled" as it happened suddenly.

He told the jury Algasim seemed "angry and his face was serious", and he pulled out the knife he was carrying because he was "frightened".

"I wanted to scare him off, just wave it around and intimidate him from attacking me," he said.

Corrigan previously told jurors he was carrying the knife for protection because he had been attacked in the city in the past.

He has admitted a charge of possessing a bladed article.

Speaking at the trial on Tuesday, Corrigan, a construction worker, told the court of his interaction with Algasim.

"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.

Following the altercation, Algasim could be seen running off and Corrigan also is seen to run in a different direction, which he said had been his "instinct".

The knife he had been carrying and the hi-vis jumper he had been wearing were left in bushes in Vinter Terrace, near Corrigan's father's flat, the court heard.

Corrigan said he had been "mortified" when he found out from police that Algasim had later died.

"I couldn't fathom it, I didn't understand why I was getting arrested for murder," he told the court.

"I didn't think I hurt anyone."

He was arrested at 13:30 BST on 2 August.

When asked by his defence barrister Jane Osborne KC if he had intended or had any reason to kill or seriously harm Algasim, Corrigan replied: "No, never".

Under cross-examination, prosecution barrister Nicholas Hearn said it was "preposterous to ask members of the jury to believe that someone could cause that level of injury and not even know they'd made contact" with the victim.

"I didn't even know I'd made contact at all," Corrigan replied.

"I take full accountability, but I didn't intend to hurt him, and I didn't know I'd caught him."

The jury previously heard that Algasim died within an hour of suffering a four-and-a-half-inch wound to his neck.

The trial continues.

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