A balaclava-clad 15-year-old boy and his 13-year-old female friend who filmed him attacking a frail grandad who died of his injuries have been sentenced, with the boy being locked up for seven years. His accomplice was placed under supervision and electronically tagged.
Bhim Kohli, 80, was just 30 seconds from home when he was violently beaten in Franklin Park near Leicester in September last year. A trial heard the boy pulled on a mask before kicking, punching and using a slider sandal to slap Mr Kohli as he took his dog, Rocky, for a walk.
The girl recorded the attack and was heard laughing on the footage. The pair were found guilty of manslaughter. The teenage boy was cleared of murder. The youngsters, who cannot be named because of their ages, were convicted of killing Mr Kohli at Leicester Crown Court in April. The jury in the trial for the pair, who were just 14 and 12 at the time of the attack, heard Mr Kohli was filmed being slapped in the face with a shoe while on his knees before his death.
Today both youths were sentenced by Mr Justice Turner. Mr Kohli had been walking Rocky just yards away from his home at Franklin Park, Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on September 1 last year, when he was attacked. Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC told the sentencing hearing: “There was deliberate humiliation of Bhim Kohli when (the boy) used violence in the presence of (the girl) and through (the girl’s) filming of that violence.”
Justice Turner told the boy: “I am sure you wore your balaclava to make you look frightening,” adding “you made a cowardly and violent attack on an elderly man” and that he had boasted to friends about what he did. He ordered the boy to be detained for seven years in a young offenders’ institution.
The girl, who the judge said was guilty of less serious offences and “did not directly hurt Mr Kohli”, was made subject to a youth rehabilitation order for three years, given an additional supervision order of three years, ordered to undertake community work and placed on an electronic tag for six months.
The judge paid tribute to Mr Kohli’s family’s “dignity” in the way they had conducted themselves throughout the trial, adding: “Their grief and anger will cast a long shadow on all of their lives.”
Mr Kohli suffered a broken neck and fractured ribs, and had been racially abused, laughed at by the girl, and left on the ground before his children found him severely injured on that evening. His son Virinder found Mr Kohli on the ground in “obvious pain” with injuries to his left side and his neck.
In his dying moments, the grandad told a paramedic he had been attacked by a boy, who punched and kicked him as he was racially abused. He also spoke to his daughter Susan Friday, who relived her dad’s last seconds as he lay dying.
She told the court: “Whilst by his side, I knelt down and said, ‘Dad, what has happened?’ He screamed, ‘My neck. my neck, my neck, lift my neck’. This was not his normal tone. He was in agony, almost screaming. I have never heard him cry out in pain about anything like that before.”
Allotment-loving Mr Kohli was rushed to hospital but sadly couldn’t be saved and died the following evening. He had suffered fractured ribs and a spinal cord injury after an “intense attack”. The teens meanwhile fled the scene and were later heard “bragging” about what they had done.
Chillingly, the boy said “he whacked his head off a log”, before the girl added: “Oh, I know. I saw that. It goes doosh.” Jurors heard the boy gave different accounts of what happened – claiming he “could not stop kicking” the OAP. He also said: “I didn’t mean to batter him, it was one hit and then my anger turn in. I regret it man I do.”
The boy searched for Franklin Park on Google the day after the horror and read a news article about Mr Kohli. He messaged his mum, saying: “Police are looking for me because of Franklin. I can’t come back tonight, I will explain when I have a chance. I’m sorry.”
He was arrested the day after the attack at his home, where police officers found him hiding in a bush. The teen told police Mr Kohli had taken photos of him and stolen his slider – but failed to mention that he’d struck him with it.
He and the girl also “made up an account” that Mr Kohli had pulled a knife out. After he was charged with murder, the boy wrote a letter to a “professional” about how he’d been dumped by his girlfriend and “needed anger etc releasing”.
When he was told the letter would have to be disclosed to prosecutors as part of the investigation, he replied: “That’s my manslaughter plea gone”.
At today’s sentencing hearing, Mr Kohli’s grandson said he is “haunted” by the thought he could have saved his grandfather.
In a victim impact statement, read to the court by prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC, Simranjit Kohli said: “My grandad was one of the most important factors of my life. He’s the main reason I am who I am. My story revolves around him and with him being taken away, it’s as though the author won’t be able to read his own book.
“It’s painful for me and my family that we will never get to see if he is proud. We won’t get to see the smile on his face when his grandkids get a house, get a car, then get married and have kids of their own. I was the first one out of my family at the scene. Not a day goes by when I think if I were minutes earlier I could have stopped what happened.
“There is of course sadness and sorrow, there’s also hate, anger and rage. Everywhere I go I’m haunted by the thought I could be with him if things had happened differently that day.”
Mr Kohli’s daughter, Susan said: “They left my dad on his own, helpless and in pain. Losing dad in these cruel, violent and deeply shocking circumstances feels like our hearts have been pulled apart. We can’t put into words the pain we feel everyday – we have never felt hurt and sadness like this.
“My mum, a gentle human being, has found herself saying she would like the children subjected to the same treatment they gave her husband to see how they feel.”
She added: “My mum and I felt we needed to attend the trial each day to understand the evidence fully. We tried to remain strong but the truth is, inside we feel broken and it has been stressful listening to the enormity of what happened and what he was subjected to.”
Reliving the aftermath of the attack, she said: “He was in so much pain, he was screaming out. It was horrendous and we have never seen him like this. We knew he was very poorly and in severe pain but we thought he would go to Leicester Royal Infirmary and be fine. We never imagined he would never return home.
“We were later told the shocking news he was no longer able to take the medication that was keeping him alive. He passed away before our eyes, surrounded by his family who were in floods of tears and disbelief.
“Due to him being killed in these circumstances and being involved in a criminal investigation, dad was unable to donate his organs which were always his wishes. It pains me we were unable to meet his wishes.”