This is the horrific moment an Iraqi immigrant stabbed a student to death just because he wanted deportation after becoming disillusioned with life in Britain after he arrived illegally across the English Channel on a small boat.
Rebaz Mohammed, 28, has been jailed for six years after he stopped stranger Ellis Wheeler, 18, in Hoglands Park, Southampton, to ask him a question before stabbing him in the back and puncturing his lung in December 2022 .
Mohammed, who has a number of previous convictions including a prison term, chased after the Solent University student who managed to escape before passing out and being rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery. Mr. Wheeler missed his tests and still struggles to sleep at night due to anxiety attacks.
Terrifying footage released today shows the Iraqi stopping him to ask if he knew anything about kickboxing. He then pulled a kitchen knife from his coat before thrusting it into the teenager’s back, whose shock and terror are evident on security cameras.
Incredibly, the Southampton Crown Court heard that Mohammed carried out the knife attack in the hope of deportation from the UK, where he had become disenchanted with life in a taxpayer-funded Bournemouth hotel.
This is the shocking moment an Iraqi immigrant stabbed a college student to death because he wanted to be deported from Britain
The Iraqi can be seen approaching the student shortly before the savage attack, speaking to him briefly and asking if he knew how to kickbox before beating him.
Ellis Wheeler, 18, a Solent University student, was left fighting for his life after 28-year-old Rebaz Mohammed (pictured) attacked him while walking through a park in Southampton.
Apparently he was aggrieved that he had no money to go back home, so he hoped that a very serious crime would mean that the British government would take him back to Iraq immediately.
It has transpired that prior to the knife attack, he had already been warned for criminal damage and assault and in May 2022 he was even jailed for 12 weeks for racially aggravated harassment and stalking only to be released again.
He begins a six-year prison term in a UK jail today after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife. MailOnline has asked the Home Office if he will be deported, and if so, when.
Sentencing Mohammed, Judge Brian Forster KC rebuked him for inflicting gruesome injuries to “achieve his own end”.
He said: ‘When someone carries out an attack with a knife, it is by chance.
‘This was an indiscriminate attack. Any member of our community could have been the victim.
You were willing to inflict serious injury with a weapon to achieve your own end. You could have killed the victim.
Six months before the attack in Southampton, 30 miles away in Bournemouth, 21-year-old Afghan double killer Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai murdered Thomas Roberts during an argument over an electric scooter in March 2022.
His trial heard how he crossed the Channel to claim asylum, but British police databases failed to realize he was a ‘knife-obsessed’ criminal who had fled Serbia after shooting two men dead and being sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Mr Wheeler was walking through Hoglands Park, Southampton, Hampshire, on his way back from the gym in December 2022 (Mohammed shown)
Mr. Wheeler managed to escape but passed out before being rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery.
Mohammed, who arrived in the UK illegally on a small boat, was arrested at the scene and told police that he had attacked his victim so that he could be sent to Iraq.
The 28-year-old, who previously served a prison term, appeared at Southampton Crown Court after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife blade.
He was sentenced to six years in prison with an extended four-year license following the ‘indiscriminate’ attack at Hoglands Park last December.
Mohammed, who arrived in the UK illegally on a small boat, was arrested at the scene and told police that he had attacked his victim so that he could be sent to Iraq.
The 28-year-old, who previously served a prison term, appeared at Southampton Crown Court after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife blade.
He was sentenced to six years in prison with an extended four-year license following the ‘indiscriminate’ attack at Hoglands Park last December.
The court heard how his victim, a Solent University freshman, missed exams and still struggles to sleep while wracked with anxiety.
The student escaped the attack but lost consciousness, with a ‘heroic’ friend calling 999 and pressing on his hideous wound until police arrived.
He was taken to the hospital where he underwent surgery for a collapsed lung and remained under observation for five days.
Andrew Houston, the prosecutor, said Mohammed knew he had to do something to be deported and had talked to people who knew the immigration system.
He had previously been warned for criminal mischief and assault and, in May 2022, was jailed for 12 weeks for racially aggravated harassment and stalking.
Richard Tutt, speaking in defence, said Mohammed, who was living in a hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset, had been “making every effort to be deported” but had no job and no money.
Mr Tutt said: ‘He believed from what he had been told that he needed to commit a crime that was serious enough.
“He comes across as a very naive person. He has experienced remorse, or at least grief.
Praising the victim’s friend, the judge said he “could have saved (his) life” and awarded him £250.
