Two teenagers have been found guilty of killing an 80-year-old man who was beaten to death in a park.
A 15-year-old boy and a girl, aged 13, were both standing trial over the death of Bhim Kohli, in Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on September 1 last year. And now a jury has returned guilty verdicts of manslaughter for the pair at Leicester Crown Court.
The boy denied the murder and manslaughter of Mr Kohli, who he is alleged to have kicked and punched during a “gratuitous” attack which left him with a broken neck and fractured ribs, and he was acquitted of the more serious charge. And the girl denied the manslaughter of Mr Kohli – having allegedly encouraged the fatal assault.
A jury retired to consider it verdicts last Friday after hearing more than a month of evidence, including the accounts of both defendants. They reached unanimous verdicts following six hours and 46 minutes of deliberation.
The defendants, who cannot be named because of their ages, appeared upset when the foreman of the jury returned the guilty verdicts. The boy was remanded in custody, while the girl was released on conditional bail, and they will be sentenced on 19 and 20 May.
After telling the jury he wanted further background information on the defendants before passing sentence, the judge, Mr Justice Turner, told the girl: “I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that the fact that bail is being granted should not be taken as any indication as to the sentence when the time comes.”
Judge Turner, who will consider a media application to lift reporting restrictions on May 19, thanked the jury for their “obvious hard work” on the case.
Addressing jurors last week, prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC used his closing speech to accuse the 15-year-old youth of having a desire to cause really serious physical injury to Mr Kohli.
Mr Sandhu told the court that two video clips filmed by the girl showed the boy accused of murder without either of his sliders on his feet, and footage showed him using a slider to slap Mr Kohli. Mr Sandhu told the jury: “It began to be filmed before (the boy) used a slider to slap Bhim Kohli to the face. As that filming started (the girl) zoomed in on the action.
“It is not a coincidence that she began filming before that piece of violence. It is not a coincidence that she zoomed in on what was about to occur before it occurred.”
Alleging that the girl had prior knowledge of what was about to happen, Mr Sandhu said: “She knew there would be violence and she had a desire to capture it – and capturing it provided encouragement for the violence to be meted out.”
The youth had no reason at all to hit Mr Kohli, Mr Sandhu said, adding that the boy’s actions had been “gratuitous violence against a man who was defenceless and a man who, because he was on the ground, was in a vulnerable position.”
He continued: “He was prepared to use violence when it wasn’t needed. His instinct when he first approached Bhim Kohli was to use violence. His instinct when he was angry was to use violence. By the time we get to (video) clip two (the boy) could just have left Franklin Park and done so easily.
“However he did not do that – he chose to stay in Franklin Park, where Bhim Kohli was.” Suggesting to jurors that the boy used further violence between the filming of the second video clip and a third clip, Mr Sandhu alleged that it had involved kicks to the chest and punching.
Racial abuse allegedly aimed at Mr Kohli by the boy was “a sign of hostility” and would tell the jury something about what a person using violence intended, Mr Sandhu said. The defendant told the court he “fell on top of” Mr Kohli after the pensioner walked towards him saying something in an angry voice.
Susan Kohli, the victim’s daughter, read a statement on the court steps after the verdicts into her father’s killing, and said: “My dad was brutally and cruelly taken away from us when walking our dog Rocky in the park close to our home. He was a devoted life partner to my mum for 55 years. He was a loving dad, grandad, brother and uncle, a retired businessman and a close friend to many, including people who lived in our local community.
“He was an amazing man who loved life. He never took himself seriously, he was good fun to be around and very chatty. He was the person who knitted our family together and we miss him every second of every day. Our home feels so empty without him and will never be the same.
“Every time my mum opens the front door she thinks about what happened to her husband. Listening to the enormity of what happened, what dad was subjected to, will never leave us. We feel angry and disgust towards the teenagers who took dad away from us. They humiliated him, an 80-year-old man, assaulted him, filmed it and laughed at him. Dad did not deserve this and wouldn’t wish this on anyone else.”
Speaking after the case, DCI Mark Sinski, of Leicestershire Police, said Mr Kohli was a “much-loved grandfather” who was “enjoying the simple things in life” such as spending time with his family, tending to his allotment and walking his dog. He said: “(Mr Kohli) used to grow vegetables for his neighbours, and a lot of his neighbours used to call him ‘grandad’, both as a term of affection and as respect to the absolute gentleman he was.
“Clearly the fatal attack of an elderly man in a public park close to his home address by children has shocked the community and the family to the core. This should never have happened. Mr Kohli was a true family man. He was the centre of his family – a very beloved husband.
“His family have been absolutely devastated by his loss. He was in the last stage of his life, but very fit and healthy and had a long life ahead of him still. There’s been, from the boy, some superficial comment of remorse. I know (Mr Kohli’s) family’s position is that any remorse spoken isn’t true and it isn’t sincere.
“This is a family – a South Asian family – that have lived without racist incidents within their community for many, many years. It’s extremely distasteful – any sort of racist motivation, even in part. And tragic that children should have that motivation. It’s a no-win situation and it should never have happened.”
Get email updates with the day’s biggest stories
