This is the horrifying moment when an Iraqi immigrant who arrived in Britain on a small boat stabbed a student in an attempt to be expelled after he became disillusioned with life in a taxpayer-funded hotel.
Rebaz Mohammed, 28, has been sentenced to six years in prison after stopping stranger Ellis Wheeler, 18, from asking him a question before stabbing him in the back in Southampton last December.
Mohammed, who has a string of previous convictions including jail time, then chased down the Solent University student, who managed to run away before passing out.
Southampton Crown Court heard that Mohammed carried out the attack in the hope that it would get him deported from the UK, where he had arrived illegally by crossing the Channel in a small boat. He had become disenchanted with living in a taxpayer-funded hotel in Bournemouth and complained that he had “no work or money,” the court heard.
CCTV footage released today shows the Iraqi stopping him to ask if Mr Wheeler knows anything about kickboxing. He then took a kitchen knife from his coat before stabbing it in the teen’s back, puncturing his lung.
Rebaz Mohammed, 28, (pictured) stabbed Ellis Wheeler, 18, a Solent University student, as he walked through a park in Southampton in the hope that doing so would get him sent back to Iraq
This is the shocking moment when an Iraqi immigrant stabbed Mr. Wheeler in the back
You see how the Iraqi approaches the student shortly before the savage attack, talks to him briefly and asks if he knows kickboxing before swinging the big knife at him.
The young man was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery. A “heroic” friend applied pressure to the wound while calling 999, and was thanked by a judge for saving his life. Mr. Wheeler has missed his exams and is still having trouble sleeping due to anxiety attacks.
It comes on the backdrop of a mooted crackdown on cross-Channel migration by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is set to table her illegal migration bill in parliament on Monday.
The new legislation would deport asylum seekers arriving in the UK on unauthorized small boats to a safe third country and prohibit them from ever returning to the UK.
Today, MailOnline asked Home Office whether Mohammed will be deported, and if so, when.
Mohammed apparently felt sad that he had no money to go home, so he hoped that a very serious crime would mean that the British government would immediately fly him back to Iraq.
Prosecutor Andrew Houston said Mohammed had spoken to people who knew the immigration system before the attack.
It is revealed that he had already been warned of criminal damage and injury prior to the knife attack and was jailed for 12 weeks in May last year for racial harassment and stalking.
Today he begins a six-year sentence in a British prison after pleading guilty to intentional grievous bodily harm and possession of a knife.
Judge Brian Forster KC condemned Mohammed and berated him for inflicting the horrific injuries to ‘further his own cause’.
He said, “If someone carries out an attack with a knife, it is a coincidence.
“This was a random attack. Any member of our community could have been a victim.
“You were willing to inflict serious injury with a weapon to achieve your own goal. You could have killed the victim.’
Mr Wheeler was walking through Hoglands Park, Southampton, when he returned from the gym last December (Mohammed is pictured).
Mr Wheeler managed to run away but passed out before being rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery
Mohammed, who came to the UK illegally on a small boat, was arrested on the spot and told police he assaulted his victim so he could be sent home to Iraq.
The 28-year-old, who has previously served a prison sentence, appeared at Southampton Crown Court after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife
Six months before the Southampton attack, 30 miles away in Bournemouth, Afghan double murderer Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, killed Thomas Roberts during an altercation over an e-scooter in March 2022.
During his trial, he learned how he crossed the Channel to seek asylum, but British police databases failed to realize that he was a knife-obsessed criminal who fled Serbia after shooting two men dead and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In January, Afghan killer Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, was convicted of murder in Bournemouth. The ‘knife-obsessed’ criminal had fled Serbia after shooting two men dead – his previous convictions were not listed in police databases or intelligence systems when he arrived in the UK
Mohammed was arrested on the spot and told police he assaulted his victim so he could be sent home to Iraq.
He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with a four-year extended license after the ‘random’ attack in Hoglands Park.
The student ran away after the attack but lost consciousness — with a “heroic” friend calling 999 and putting pressure on his gruesome wound until police arrived, the court heard.
Richard Tutt, defending himself, said Mohammed had “made 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 must have committed a serious enough offence.
He presents himself as a very naive person. He has experienced remorse, or at least sadness.’
The judge praised the victim’s boyfriend, saying he ‘may have saved the day’ [his] life’ and awarded him £250.