Teenagers accused of killing 80-year-old pensioner in brutal racist attack

An 80-year-old pensioner was kicked and punched to death in a park by a teenage boy whilst a teen girl shouted encouragement and filmed the attack on her mobile phone, a court heard.

The 15-year-old boy also racially abused Bhim Kohli and slapped him in the face with a shoe as the pensioner slumped to his knees having suffered fractured ribs and a spinal cord injury, it is alleged.

Whilst the “intense” attack was taking place a 13-year-old girl laughed and urged the boy on whilst capturing footage as Mr Kohli collapsed in Leicester’s Franklin Park.

After Mr Kohli died in hospital the following day the boy then attempted to excuse his actions to by falsely claiming the retired businessman had threatened a girl with a knife, it is alleged.

He denies murder and manslaughter whilst the girl denies manslaughter. Neither can be named due to their young age.

In a message recovered from the boy’s phone, the jury at Leicester Crown Court heard that he wrote: “I watched him pull a knife out on a girl and hit her. I did not mean to batter him. My anger turned in.”

A friend of the boy told police that the defendant said that he only meant to punch Mr Kohli once to his face “to teach him not to do it again” but instead he “let his anger out”.

Harpreet Sandhu KC, prosecuting, said: “They had to think of a way to justify the violence which had been used by (the boy) against Mr Kohli and which had been encouraged by (the girl).

“To justify what they had done they made up an account. The account was that Mr Kohli had pulled a knife on the girl.

“It was not Mr Kohli’s habit to carry a knife, no knife was recovered from the clothing that Mr Kohli was wearing at the time, and no knife was recovered from Franklin Park.

“The truth is, we suggest, that there was not a knife, and if there was not a knife, Mr Kohli did not pull a knife out on the girl.”

Mr Sandhu told the court that the boy knew the police would be looking for him and messaged his mother 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.”

The boy also searched for “Franklin Park” on Google the day after the alleged attack and read an online news article about Mr Kohli, jurors heard.

They were also told that the boy created a Snapchat group with three other children who were at the park on the day of the assault and asked which of them had been arrested.

The prosecutor told the court how one of Mr Kohli’s sons arrived at the scene quickly after the assault.

He said: “When he arrived at the park Mr Kohli was on the ground and in obvious pain, indeed Mr Kohli told his son he was in pain.

“He told his son he had been hit, he pointed to his left side, and in particular the area of his ribs. He also pointed to the left side of his neck.”

The court heard that Mr Kohli’s daughter also arrived at the park and “repeatedly” heard Mr Kohli say his neck was hurting and when she asked what happened, he replied: “I have been punched in the face and they have kicked me.”

He also told his daughter that he had been called a “p***”, the court heard.

Mr Sandhu told the jury: “The prosecution say that the boy’s accounts to others fit with what Mr Kohli had said in the immediate aftermath of the attacks upon him.

“Taken individually and together those accounts show that the boy did not just push Mr Kohli over but that he subjected him to an intense attack.

“The boy did that because he intended to cause Mr Kohli really serious harm, that is supported by his own telephone activity.”

Mr Kohli was rushed to Leicester Royal Infirmary before being transferred to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where it “was not possible to save him”.

The trial continues.