A 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy have been found guilty of the manslaughter of Bhim Kohli, an 80-year-old grandfather who died after being attacked in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town, near Leicester.
Mr Kohli was discovered lying on the ground in the park on 1 September last year, just yards from his home. He died the following evening from a spinal cord injury.
The court heard that he suffered a broken neck and rib fractures consistent with “something heavy striking the rib cage.”
The boy, who was 14 at the time, and the girl, who was 12, cannot be named due to their ages.
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During the six-week trial at Leicester Crown Court, jurors were told that Mr Kohli had been racially abused before the attack.
The court also heard that the girl had taken a photograph of Mr Kohli in the park a week before the incident.
After almost seven hours of deliberation, the jury returned unanimous verdicts, finding both teenagers guilty of manslaughter. They will be sentenced next month.
The trial revealed that Mr Kohli was shoved to the ground and slapped in the face with a shoe by a boy wearing a balaclava.
A witness described “seeing the boy forcefully pushing the old man on to his back.” The jury heard that Mr Kohli “ended up on the floor screaming.”
PC Rachelle Pereira, in her statement, said: “Mr Kohli was repeatedly screaming out in pain, shouting out ‘My neck’.”
She added that a witness described a young white boy in a black balaclava who “shove[d] the old man to the floor and sprint[ed].”
The boy denied causing the fatal injuries. He reportedly told a friend he would go “on the run” to Hinckley the day after the attack.
However, police arrested him minutes later while he was hiding in a bush.
Two months after the incident, the boy wrote in a letter: “I did it and I accept I’m doing time” and “I kinda just needed anger etc releasing.”
He told the court he approached Mr Kohli wearing a balaclava because the girl claimed the elderly man “carries a knife.”
He added that Mr Kohli fell to his knees during a “tussle” over the boy’s slider.
The court was shown a video, recorded by the girl, showing the masked boy slapping Mr Kohli in the face with his shoe.
The boy told the jury he did this out of “instinct.”
Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC described the incident as “gratuitous violence against a man who was defenceless.”
Mr Justice Turner remanded the boy in custody and granted the girl bail.
However, he told her that the bail decision “should not be taken as any indication as to the sentence when the time comes.”
The boy had also been charged with murder but was found not guilty on that count.
Both teenagers appeared visibly upset as the verdicts were delivered.
(Sky News)
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