Mother of student, 18, stabbed by an Iraqi immigrant demands answers trends now
The mother of a student who was stabbed by an Iraqi immigrant who wanted to commit a serious crime so he could be deported has today hit out at Britain's 'broken' asylum system.
Mother-of-two Corisande Wheeler, 51, said her son Ellis Wheeler, 18, was lucky to be alive after he was knifed in the back as he walked home from a computer science lecture at Solent University, Southampton, last year.
She spoke out after Rebaz Mohammed - who came to the UK illegally on a small boat - was jailed for six years over the horrific attack which was captured on harrowing CCTV footage.
It is understood he came to the UK from Europe on a dinghy soon after he had served a 12-week custodial sentence in the UK for racially aggravated assault when he first visited.
He then targeted Mr Wheeler in a random attack last December because he was disillusioned with life in the UK and believed it would help him get a taxpayer-funded flight home.
Mother-of-two Corisande Wheeler, 51, said her son Ellis Wheeler, 18, was lucky to be alive after he was knifed in the back
This is the shocking moment Rebaz Mohammed stabbed Ellis Wheeler in the back last December
Mrs Wheeler told MailOnline: 'I find it disgusting - the fact he had already served time and wasn't deported and was looking for a paid flight home. The sentence was far too short.'
Hitting out at Britain's immigration policy she said: 'Something needs to actually happen. We have been going round and round in circles and it's just been going on for years - it's been the same thing with each government. This has made me feel more passionate and concerned about it.
'It gets hush hushed. We're not allowed to say what we really think for fear of wokism and racism and all that.
'I don't know what's happened to the country. It's fallen apart and broken.'
Mrs Wheeler told how the family had not been given answers as to why Mohammed - who was a violent offender - had been allowed to roam free unsupervised.
She said: 'It was said in court that he did it because he wanted to be deported. It seems a strange way to go about it and why was he not deported the first time?
'He had already been convicted of battery and other offences and had been in prison.
'Nobody has given us any answers as to why he was able to do this even though he was known to be a dangerous person.
Rebaz Mohammed, 28, (pictured) stabbed Ellis Wheeler, 18, a Solent University student, as he was walking through a park in Southampton hoping it would get him deported back to Iraq
'Why was he able to come over on a boat to start with? Why was he in a hotel? He didn't have a job.
'What happened to my son could have been anybody's fate. If the stab wound had been a couple of inches to the left it would have been his spine. It could have been his neck. It's pretty horrific.'
Mrs Wheeler added: 'No-one wants to go through that. It's been horrific. You just have to draw a line under it and move on and think things could have been a lot worse
