🔗 Share this article

A man has been sentenced to life with a minimum period of 23 years for the killing of a teenage Syrian asylum seeker after the boy brushed past his companion in downtown Huddersfield.

Court Hears Details of Deadly Confrontation

The court in Leeds was told how the defendant, twenty, knifed the teenager, aged 16, shortly after the boy brushed past his companion. He was convicted of the killing on last Thursday.

The teenager, who had escaped conflict-ridden Homs after being injured in a blast, had been living in the local community for only a few weeks when he crossed paths with the defendant, who had been for a meeting at the job center that day and was planning to get eyelash glue with his girlfriend.

Details of the Assault

Leeds crown court heard that the accused – who had taken cannabis, a stimulant drug, diazepam, ketamine and a painkiller – took “a minor offense” to the boy “innocuously” going past his girlfriend in the public space.

CCTV footage displayed Franco uttering words to the victim, and gesturing him closer after a brief exchange. As the youth came closer, Franco unfolded the knife on a folding knife he was carrying in his clothing and thrust it into the teenager's throat.

Verdict and Judgment

The defendant refuted the murder charge, but was convicted by a trial jury who considered the evidence for about three hours. He pleaded guilty to having a knife in a public space.

While sentencing the defendant on last Friday, the court judge said that upon spotting the teenager, the man “singled him out and enticed him to within your reach to strike before killing him”. He said the defendant's assertion to have spotted a blade in the boy's clothing was “untrue”.

He said of Ahmad that “it is a testament to the doctors and nurses attempting to rescue him and his will to live he even made it to the hospital alive, but in truth his trauma were unsurvivable”.

Family Reaction and Statement

Reading out a statement drafted by the victim's uncle his uncle, with contributions from his mother and father, the legal representative told the court that the victim's parent had experienced cardiac arrest upon being informed of his boy's killing, necessitating medical intervention.

“I am unable to describe the effect of their terrible act and the influence it had over the whole family,” the message stated. “His mother still weeps over his garments as they smell of him.”

Ghazwan, who said Ahmad was as close as a child and he felt ashamed he could not keep him safe, went on to explain that the victim had thought he had found “a safe haven and the fulfilment of dreams” in England, but instead was “brutally snatched by the pointless and random violence”.

“In my role as his uncle, I will always carry the guilt that Ahmad had arrived in Britain, and I could not ensure his safety,” he said in a statement after the judgment. “Ahmad we adore you, we long for you and we will do for ever.”

History of the Victim

The proceedings was told the teenager had journeyed for 90 days to arrive in Britain from the Middle East, stopping in a asylum seeker facility for young people in Swansea and attending college in the local college before moving to Huddersfield. The teenager had dreamed of becoming a physician, inspired partially by a desire to support his parent, who suffered from a long-term health problem.