Dramatic video footage has been released of the moment an Iraqi man stabbed a university student in a bid to be deported because he had no work or money in the UK.
Rebaz Mohammed was jailed for six years at Southampton Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and possessing a knife in a public place in connection with the attack which happened in a park in Southampton, Hampshire, in December 2022.
The footage released by the Crown Prosecution Service shows the 28-year-old, who was living in a hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset, talking to the student and then stabbing him before the victim ran away with Mohammed chasing after him.
The student was able to escape and was assisted by a friend after he lost consciousness. The friend called 999 and put pressure on his wound until help arrived.
According to a report in the Southern Daily Echo, the court was told by Mohammed's defence counsel, Richard Tutt, that his client had come to the UK illegally by boat but now wanted to be deported and needed to commit an offence that was serious enough.
Sentencing Mohammed last month, Judge Brian Forster KC said that the victim could have been killed in the attack.
A Home Office spokesman would not confirm whether Mohammed would be deported as he could not discuss individual cases.
He added: “Foreign national offenders who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes will face the full force of the law, including deportation at the earliest opportunity for those eligible.”
