William Emlyn Jones KC, representing the Attorney General, said that while Mohamed’s youth was given as a reason for shortening the original sentence, “character testimonies suggested the opposite” should have happened.
The barrister added: “This was a mature and potentially impressive young man.
“It’s a tragedy that this has been thrown away because he went out with a knife and he stabbed an innocent young man in the chest.
“Only because he did those things has a young man died.”
Nick Johnson KC, representing Mohamed, said he accepted “18 years is a lenient sentence, but taking into account all the relevant features, it cannot be properly characterised as unduly lenient”.
Lord Justice Males told the court how Mr Issa’s family, some of whom watched Friday’s hearing remotely, previously described him “as an anchor who held us together”, and whose “anguish was compounded when the offender at trial described Mr Issa as a violent aggressor”.
He added that Mr Issa’s actions were described by witnesses as being those of a “peacemaker”.
In increasing the sentence, the judge said: “Though this was a chance incident, this remains a case where the offender had a knife with him available for use if necessary.
“He did not have to go out armed with a knife and he initiated the encounter.”
