🔗 Share this article

A individual has been jailed for life with a lowest sentence of 23 years for the killing of a teenage Syrian refugee after the victim brushed past his companion in downtown Huddersfield.

Court Learns Details of Deadly Confrontation

The court in Leeds learned how the defendant, twenty, attacked with a knife the victim, 16, shortly after the teenager walked by Franco’s girlfriend. He was convicted of homicide on the fourth day of the week.

The victim, who had fled battle-scarred his Syrian hometown after being injured in a bombing, had been residing in the Huddersfield area for only a short period when he crossed paths with the defendant, who had been for a meeting at the job center that day and was going to buy cosmetic adhesive with his partner.

Details of the Incident

The court learned that the defendant – who had taken marijuana, a stimulant drug, diazepam, ketamine and codeine – took “a trivial issue” to the teenager “harmlessly” passing by his partner in the road.

Security camera video revealed the man making a remark to Ahmad, and calling him over after a brief exchange. As the youth approached, the attacker opened the blade on a folding knife he was concealing in his trousers and thrust it into the teenager's throat.

Trial Outcome and Judgment

The defendant denied murder, but was found guilty by a trial jury who took a little more than three hours to decide. He admitted guilt to having a knife in a public place.

While sentencing the defendant on the fifth day of the week, the presiding judge said that upon spotting the teenager, the man “marked him as a victim and drew him to within your proximity to assault before ending his life”. He said Franco’s claim to have noticed a knife in the victim's belt was “false”.

The judge said of Ahmad that “it stands as proof to the doctors and nurses attempting to rescue him and his desire to survive he even made it to the hospital alive, but in fact his trauma were unsurvivable”.

Relatives Reaction and Message

Reciting a declaration drafted by the victim's uncle his uncle, with help from his family, the legal representative told the court that the teenager’s father had experienced cardiac arrest upon being informed of his boy's killing, necessitating medical intervention.

“Words cannot capture the effect of their terrible act and the impact it had over the whole family,” the testimony read. “His mother still cries over his garments as they smell of him.”

He, who said his nephew was like a son and he felt guilty he could not keep him safe, went on to explain that the teenager had thought he had found “a safe haven and the realization of hopes” in Britain, but instead was “tragically removed by the unnecessary and sudden attack”.

“Being his relative, I will always bear the shame that the boy had traveled to England, and I could not protect him,” he said in a statement after the judgment. “Ahmad we care for you, we miss you and we will continue always.”

Background of the Teenager

The proceedings heard the victim had made his way for a quarter of a year to get to England from the Middle East, visiting a asylum seeker facility for young people in a city in Wales and attending college in the Swansea area before moving to West Yorkshire. The teenager had dreamed of becoming a physician, driven in part by a hope to support his parent, who was affected by a long-term health problem.