Grandfather's eerie last moments before horror murder caught on CCTV

News.com.au

5 hours ago

It's the most disturbing crime I've seen since 1993 when two 11-year-olds abducted, tortured and killed toddler James Bulger – with sickening similarities.
In April, a 14-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl were convicted of manslaughter. Earlier this month, they were given sentences so paltry, I felt my blood boil.
The boy beat to death a retired factory worker and granddad, Bhim Kohli, 80, in an unprovoked attack, hurling racist abuse at him as he did.
The girl filmed the assault, cheered him on and laughed in the dying pensioner's face. Later, both bragged about it.
He received seven years in jail. She wasn't jailed at all – for fear it'd impact her 'education and mental health.' She received a three-year rehabilitation order, a six-month curfew, and community service.
They remain anonymous. A judge ruled last month their welfare outweighed the public interest in open justice and unrestricted reporting.
Outside court late last week, Bhim's daughter Susan Kohli choked back tears as she read the family's statement.
'We feel anger 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.'
Referring to their sentences and anonymity, she said: 'They have taken a life – and as a result our lives have been changed forever. When they're released they still have their full lives ahead of them. They can rebuild their lives. We can't.'
How on earth could this happen?
When I read the details, a chill ran through me. Then I saw where it happened: Leicester. I lived and worked there as a council-funded youth worker.
I know one of the key ways in which this horror might've been prevented.
Multiple grim factors coalesced to cause this: toxic teen phone culture, a desire for online 'fame', male violence, government cuts, policing failures and a breakdown of a famous multicultural society which recent politicians have savaged as 'woke,' leading to the normalisation of disgusting racist attacks.
Trigger warning: the details I'll share now are distressing. But they're important to understand how a once-great multicultural society, in a city I was proud to call home, can break down to the point something unthinkable like this occurs.
A 'very mild, gentle man' who loved his family and dog
Bhim Kohli loved gardening in his small allotment. His neighbour, Marie Chatterton, described him as 'very mild and gentle.'
His grandson, Simranjit Kohli, said 'My granddad is the main reason I am who I am. Now we'll never get to see if he is proud.'
He was metres from his home, walking his beloved dog, Rocky, in a nearby park. The last words he heard as he cowered on his knees and his distraught dog watched helplessly were those of vile racist taunts, abuse, and laughter.
When his daughter found him lying on the ground in agony, he told her his attackers had called him a 'P***' (a hateful racist slur) during the attack.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Sinski called the case one of the most shocking of his career. The boy, he said, had a thirst for social media notoriety.
Two weeks earlier, Bhim had intervened when two white boys aged 12 and 13 racially abused a man of colour near the same park. They threw a rock and a fence post at him and shouted 'go back to your village.'
Bhim, his daughter, and a neighbour reported it.
That man, who remains anonymous, last week said: 'If police had increased patrols after that, maybe Bhim would still be alive.'
Bhim's daughter Susan echoed these sentiments.
He added that he was shocked by 'this level of anger and vitriol … the racist language, the violence … from such a young age group'.
But police deterring the act is a Band-Aid – we need to address the root cause. We need to look at a deeper rot in a city that once rightly boasted itself as Britain's most successful multicultural city.
Elderly man suffers broken neck, three broken ribs
In court, we learned the boy, who 'revelled in his hard, violent reputation' didn't know Bhim. He 'wanted to impress' his friend.
She'd pointed Bhim out, encouraged the attack, and filmed it. In the weeks previously, she'd bullied and harassed Bhim; she'd thrown apples at him. She also filmed another Asian man being racially abused and mocked.
She had a 'grudge' against Bhim because of an earlier verbal altercation involving a friend. He'd told them to get off his neighbour's garage roof. In response, stones were thrown at him, he was spat at and was racially abused by the children.
Her phone contained a photo of Bhim taken a week before the attack. She'd deliberately arrived at the park at the time she knew he walked his dog.
'This girl was obsessed with violence – she filmed and encouraged it,' said DCI Sinski. 'Her actions were cynical and calculated.'
When arrested, she was 'not in any way intimidated by the gravity of the charge.'
He added: 'She was very sure of herself … and unnecessarily cocky and confident during her evidence.'
The boy wore a balaclava and knocked Bhim to the ground then hit him with his shoe as he was trying to get up.
The judge said he was 'showing off' as he knew he was being filmed. He slapped him and called him a racial slur so hateful, British newspapers won't print it.
He stomped on Bhim so forcefully, it broke his neck.
As the 80-year-old lay on the ground defenceless and in agony, then motionless, the teen repeatedly kicked him so hard, he broke three of his ribs as the girl filmed, laughed and later bragged.
When police reviewed her phone, they found numerous clips of her filming and encouraging attacks.
Bhim's daughter described finding her father. 'He screamed, 'My neck, my neck.' I'd never heard him in that kind of pain before.'
He died the following day in hospital.
'Lock up the council workers who let this happen'
One reader commented: 'Also lock up the police and council who failed to deal with the anti-social behaviour going on for ages.'
I previously worked for Leicestershire County Council as a youth worker, helping kids just like Bhim's attackers.
I loved Leicester, Britain's first city where white people were a minority. It's home to a large Indian and Pakistani community.
We celebrated Diwali, revelled in the delicious food, and proved multiculturalism worked.
We ran programs for disadvantaged kids to keep them out of trouble and off the streets – including those expelled, or at risk of arrest.
It was a haven for self-expression, but we also taught them respect. My male manager and I were particularly keen to act as positive role models for the boys who came from complex backgrounds.
That centre was demolished in 2012 due to Tory austerity. Between 2010 and 2023, the Conservatives closed over 1,200 youth centres and more than a third of children's centres.
Meanwhile, figures like Nigel Farage – Britain's Pauline Hanson – have become alarming political icons for Britain's youth. Farage has 1.3 million TikTok followers, more than all other MPs combined. He spews anti-Immigration rhetoric.
The death of 80-year-old Bhim Kohli in Leicestershire only makes three of today’s front pages. As we reported yesterday, the Telegraph writes that Mr Kohli had previously complained to police about anti-social behaviour by young kids where he lived. pic.twitter.com/yUqEqHG7ue
— Darshna Soni (@darshnasoni) September 4, 2024
Bhim was killed just a month after the UK race riots. Misinformation claimed the Southport stabbing suspect was an immigrant.
He wasn't. Far-right activist Tommy Robinson led the lie – and shortly afterwards, asylum hotels were set on fire.
My old youth centre promoted harmony and diversity. Many like it are gone – bulldozed, not just closed.
Adolescence
The chilling parallels to Netflix's Adolescence are undeniable. The show prompted UK PM Keir Starmer to meet its creators.
Writer Jack Thorne called for smartphone bans in schools and a digital age of consent, naming Australia's world-leading example as one the UK should follow.
In the show, 13-year-old Jamie kills a girl after being radicalised online. He lies, denies responsibility, then shows threadbare remorse.
So did this boy. He falsely claimed Bhim had a knife. Then said the pensioner just 'fell.' Eventually, he admitted to the killing, saying he 'just needed to get his anger out.'
The judge called his remorse 'diluted,' adding: 'You say it wasn't your fault. The sooner you realise otherwise, the better.'
In leaked Snapchats after the attack, he wrote: 'Feds know it's me,' with a laughing emoji. He bragged about his 'punching power.'
How this could've been avoided
Could a youth centre have kept this violent boy off the streets and out of trouble? Maybe not.
Could a youth phone ban have stopped the desire for viral infamy? Maybe not.
Could more visible policing following reports of racist hate incidents have made a difference? Maybe not.
Could braver political leadership on multiculturalism have countered anti-immigration propaganda? Maybe not.
But if all of these things had been in place, as was perfectly possible?
A beloved, hardworking granddad might still be alive today.
He might not have spent his final moments in agony, being ridiculed and facing the ugliest collapse of the society he loved – at the hands of children.