Saudi student killer given life sentence in US

The killer of a Saudi man and who then stole the student's car has been given a life sentence by a California court with no chance of parole.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

13 August, 2016

Police in California launched a massive operation to find Alkadi [AFP]

An American man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a student from Saudi Arabia in 2014.

Agustin Fernandez was convicted of killing 23-year-old Abdullah Alkadi after seeing the Saudi student's Craigslist advertisement to sell his Audi A5.

Fernandez stabbed the California State Northridge engineering student and dumped his body in the desert, which was discovered one month later.

The murderer stole the car worth $35,000 and the Audi was later found parked at Fernandez's apartment.

Alkadi was from Khobar in eastern Saudi Arabia and moved to the US to pursue a degree in electrical engineering.

"He wanted to make his family, his parents and himself proud. He wanted to be a contributing member in our society but things turned out the other way around," his brother Ahmed told media.

"He was a peaceful guy. Regardless of any barriers we have with language or religion, he's a human being. I would like the public to pray for his soul to have peace in eternity."

Alkadi's body was returned to Saudi Arabia in 2014.

Agencies contributed to this story.