Man accused of student's murder was 'spaced out'

A man accused of stabbing and killing a Saudi Arabian student on a summer night in Cambridge was "spaced out", a woman has told a trial.

Chas Corrigan, 22, of Holbrook Road in the city, denies murdering 20-year-old Mohammed Algasim, near Cambridge's main railway station in August.

One of Corrigan's friends has told the jury that he had been "confrontational" earlier in the evening.

Simona Miksykte said she had "never seen him" behave in that way.

Algasim was studying at a summer school at the EF International Language Campus in the city.

Prosecution barrister Nicolas Hearn has told Cambridge Crown Court that Algasim was sitting outside student accommodation in Mill Park Road, near the railway station, when Corrigan approached and stabbed him in the neck.

Hearn said CCTV had captured Corrigan's "actions" before, during and after the incident.

He said Corrigan had been drinking and "using drugs" and had never met Algasim prior to the stabbing.

Jane Osborne KC, the barrister representing Corrigan, has told jurors that her client carried a knife for protection.

Osborne said Corrigan did not intend to cause harm but aimed to wave the knife between himself and Algasim.

She said he had "no idea" that he had made physical contact.

Miksykte told jurors how Corrigan had visited her flat on Mill Park Road during the evening of 1 August.

She said she normally thought of Corrigan as "like a baby", but said he was different on that night.

"He was, like, touchy and pushy," she said.

"Normally he is not like that. He is not, like, aggressive. He is a good boy. But that night - I don't know.

"When I was looking at him, he was, like, spaced out."

Miksykte said Corrigan had been "grabby" and aggressive.

"He weren't, like, aggressive as to call the police," she said.

"He was just, like, confrontational."

Jurors have watched CCTV footage of the incident which led to Algasim's death.

It showed Algasim running away after a confrontation with a man in a yellow high-vis jacket.

Hearn said footage showed Corrigan, who was wearing the yellow jacket, stabbing Algasim.

The trial continues.

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