Hull University student jailed for murder after stabbing housemate in music row

Syed Hussain-Kazi, left, stabbed Sachin Hawkins through the heart following an argument in their kitchen.

A student who stabbed his housemate to death during an argument about their taste in music has been jailed for his murder.

Syed Hussain-Kazi, of Hardy Street in Hull, attacked 19-year-old University of Hull student Sachin Hawkins with a kitchen knife after an exchange of insults, Hull Crown Court heard.Hussain-Kazi, 25, denied murdering Mr Hawkins on 15 November last year but was found guilty by a jury after a seven-day trial.The court heard how violence erupted after Mr Hawkins began playing music in the kitchen of their shared house.

Hussain-Kazi, who had been helping to tidy up, started making fun of his taste in music and the pair then exchanged insults. They usually called each other names, the court heard, but the argument escalated.

Hussain-Kazi took exception to what he had been called, asking: "What did you call me?"He held Mr Hawkins against a wall and stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife, causing him to fall to the floor. Another person in the house then held Hussain-Kazi back.Hussain-Kazi said "I need to go", stepping over Mr Hawkins and saying "I'm sorry" before leaving the house.

He later told police that he did not intend to cause any harm to his friend. The pair had met during their first year at university.

Mr Hawkins, an international student from the city of Freeport in the United States, was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary but died the same evening. He had ambitions to become a special education teacher, the court heard.David Lamb KC, mitigating, said it was a "tragic" case for the family of Mr Hawkins, but claimed Hussain-Kazi did not intend to kill him."There was no planning or premeditation sufficient to amount to an aggravating feature," he said. "Violence on this scale, if at all, was simply not contemplated."The violence was spontaneous and the defendant did not search for, or indeed, select a knife. Rather, it appears to have been, the evidence suggests, close to [them]."Judge John Thackray KC told Hussain-Kazi: "You thought nothing of the unending pain you would cause to the family of Sachin Hawkins.

"The family of Sachin Hawkins now suffer that pain each day, his life needlessly taken."You initiated trouble by being rude about Sachin Hawkins's choice of music, making, as you did, a homophobic comment. He responded verbally but with no threat of violence or intimidation whatsoever. Physically, he was no match for you.

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"You then viciously attacked him."The judge said Mr Hawkins was "adored by many" and his life was "precious and priceless to his family members and friends".

You have caused pain, suffering and torment and they will never recover from the devastation that you have caused."Hussain-Kazi had a previous conviction for a knifepoint robbery and admitted having a "fascination with knives".

Hussain-Kazi was jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years.

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