The family of an 80-year-old man have told of their “disgust” at the children who “humiliated” and killed him after a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were convicted of manslaughter.
Bhim Kohli was found lying on the ground in Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on 1 September last year and died the next evening of a spinal cord injury.
The grandfather, who was attacked just yards from his home as he walked his dog, suffered a broken neck and rib fractures consistent with “something heavy striking the rib cage”, the trial heard.
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0:54 Bhim Kohli was ‘pillar of community’
The boy, who was 14 at the time of the attack, and the girl, who was 12, were found guilty at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday. They cannot be named because of their ages.
The youths, who sat in the dock for the first time since their trial began, appeared upset as the verdicts were given.
Speaking outside court following the verdicts, Mr Kohli’s daughter Susan said her father was “brutally and cruelly taken away from us when walking our dog Rocky in the park close to our home”.
She said Mr Kohli was a “devoted life partner to my mum for 55 years”, as well as a “loving dad, grandad, brother and uncle, a retired businessman and a close friend to many, including people who lived in our local community”.
“Every time my mum opens the front door she thinks about what happened to her husband,” Ms Kohli said.
“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.”
Image: Mr Kohli was a ‘loving dad, grandad, brother and uncle’, his daughter said
In a statement released by police, Ms Kohli said the boy who killed her father “used violence so severe that he broke three of dad’s ribs and neck, which caused trauma to his spinal column”.
“Videos of the incident were filmed and shockingly found on the girl’s phone,” she added.
“Dad did not deserve this, and we wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone else.
“One of the videos showed dad on his knees being hit over the head with the boy’s slider (shoe). A loud horrible slapping sound is heard when the boy struck dad.
“Hearing the girl laugh at this assault on dad is utterly disgusting. This sound plays over and over in our heads.”
‘Cruel, violent and deeply shocking’
Ms Kohli said the footage captured her father’s attempt to call for help as he shouted out for his grandson, adding: “We didn’t hear his call for help and this upsets us deeply.
“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 every day, and this has magnified during the trial.
“Rocky, our dog, returned home alone on that day and has been lost without dad. He had 15 years with my dad and it is clear he misses him deeply.”
Image: Police at the scene in Franklin Park last September. Pic: PA
During a six-week trial, jurors heard that Mr Kohli was racially abused before the incident.
The girl had also taken a photograph of Mr Kohli in Franklin Park a week before, the court heard.
During the attack, he was shoved to the ground and slapped in the face with a shoe by a boy wearing a balaclava, the trial heard.
A police report into the incident included a statement from a witness who described “seeing the boy forcefully pushing the old man on to his back”.
The witness described Mr Kohli as “ending up on the floor screaming”, the jury heard.
The boy, who denied inflicting the fatal injuries, told a friend he would go “on the run” to Hinckley, in Leicestershire, the day after the attack but was arrested by police minutes later while hiding in a bush, the court was told.
Boy claimed he acted out of ‘instinct’
In a letter written two months after the attack, the boy said “I did it and I accept I’m doing time” and “I kinda just needed anger etc releasing”, jurors heard.
The boy told the jury he walked over to Mr Kohli that evening, wearing a balaclava, because the girl had said the man “carries a knife”, before Mr Kohli fell to his knees during a “tussle” over the youth’s slider.
The court was shown a video clip filmed by the girl of the masked boy slapping Mr Kohli in the face with his shoe, which he told the jury he did out of “instinct”.
In his evidence, the male defendant told the court he pushed Mr Kohli over to “defend” the girl, who he thought was going to be hit or pushed by the elderly man, but he denied ever kicking or punching Mr Kohli.
The jury heard that when the victim was found injured in the park, he told his daughter that he had been called a “P***” during the attack.
Harpreet Sandhu KC, for the prosecution, said the boy’s actions were “gratuitous violence against a man who was defenceless”.
The jury deliberated for almost seven hours before reaching unanimous verdicts on the boy and girl, who will be sentenced next month.
The boy had also been charged with murder, but was found not guilty by the jury on that count.
Mr Justice Turner remanded the boy in custody and granted bail to the girl but told her his decision “should not be taken as any indication as to the sentence when the time comes”.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Sinski, of Leicestershire Police, said Mr Kohli’s family have been “absolutely devastated by his loss” and had “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,” he added.
“It’s a no-win situation and it should never have happened.”
