Latest news with #SusanKohli
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Teen killers' parents should face court too: 80-year-old victim's daughter says police should 'hold parents accountable' after boy, 15, and girl, 13, were sentenced for fatal attack
The heartbroken daughter of a pensioner who died after being brutally attacked by two children has said the teenage killers' parents should be dragged into court and held accountable for their kids' actions. Bhim Kohli, 80, was out walking his dog just yards from his home in Braunstone Town, near Leicester, when he was set upon by a balaclava-wearing boy, 15, while a 13-year-old girl filmed the shocking assault. The innocent grandfather was kicked and punched to the ground, racially abused and mocked by the girl - who recorded him as he lay on his knees. Moments later, the frail pensioner was left crumpled and alone in the park. His own children discovered him with horrific injuries later that day. He died in hospital the following evening, having suffered a broken neck and fractured ribs. Yesterday the 15-year-old boy was ordered to serve just seven years in a young offenders' detention centre and a 13-year-old girl was spared being jailed and instead handed a three-year youth rehabilitation order. Now, in the wake of their sentencing, Mr Kohli's devastated daughter has issued a powerful call for justice - Susan Kohli said the teenagers' parents should also face legal consequences. 'The parents have a part to play in it because from what we heard in court, (the children) were out at crazy times. They were on the phones at gone midnight. These are children of the age of 12 and 14 (at the time of the killing),' she said. 'How can a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old do something like this to an old-age pensioner? Do they not think what if this happened to their parents, their grandparents? '(It's) adults taking responsibility. Hold the parents accountable. Then bring them to court as well.' During the harrowing trial at Leicester Crown Court, Mr Justice Turner told the pair - referred to only as D1 and D2 due to their ages - that the attack was 'cowardly' and 'wicked.' Turning to the boy, he said: 'I am sure, D1, from the start you wanted to confront Mr Kohli, mainly because you were showing off to D2 — you knew she was watching and was likely to take films on her mobile phone.' 'I am sure you knocked Mr Kohli to the ground and hit him with your sliders. I am sure Mr Kohli did nothing at all to deserve what you did. What you did was wicked. 'You made a cowardly and violent attack on an elderly man.' It was also revealed that Mr Kohli told his daughter he had been called a 'P***' during the attack. The judge acknowledged this but added that mobile phone evidence didn't show the teens held 'general racist views,' calling it instead 'a lazy but very hurtful insult.' The court heard chilling details about the girl's role: she filmed the boy slapping Mr Kohli with a slider shoe and recorded footage of him lying motionless on the ground. Shockingly, she also had a photo of the elderly man on her phone taken eight days before the attack. The boy had originally been charged with murder but was found guilty of manslaughter. In a letter written two months later, he claimed to be suffering flashbacks and wrote: 'I feel like my case is evil. I accept I did it and I am doing time. I kinda just needed anger etc releasing.' Despite the horrifying nature of the crime, Susan Kohli says the young killers were treated with kid gloves by the justice system. 'I feel angry and disappointed that the sentence… does not, I believe, reflect the severity of the crime they committed,' she said after the hearing. The court made deliberate efforts to make the proceedings less intimidating for the children — lawyers did not wear wigs or gowns, and the defendants were allowed to avoid sitting in the dock. Ms Kohli said there had been 'under-reporting' of incidents of anti-social behaviour in the months leading up to the attack on her father and that the Government needs to do more to ensure police have the resources they need to safeguard communities. Reading her own statement to the packed courtroom yesterday, Mr Kohli's daughter Susan Kohli said her family are surrounded by 'consistent sadness' since he died. She said: 'They left my dad on his own, helpless and in pain. 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 - we have never felt hurt and sadness like this. 'My mum, a gentle human being, has found herself saying she would like the children subjected to the same treatment they gave her husband to see how they feel.' She added: 'My mum and I felt we needed to attend the trial each day to understand the evidence fully. 'We tried to remain strong but, the truth is, inside we feel broken and it has been stressful listening to the enormity of what happened and what he was subjected to.' Describing the moments she found her father injured on the ground in the park just yards from the family home, Ms Kohli said: 'He was in so much pain, he was screaming out. It was horrendous and we have never seen him like this. 'We knew he was very poorly and in severe pain, but we thought he would go to Leicester Royal Infirmary and be fine. 'We never imagined he would never return home. We were later told the shocking news he was no longer able to take the medication that was keeping him alive. 'He passed away before our eyes, surrounded by his family who were in floods of tears and disbelief. 'Due to him being killed in these circumstances and being involved in a criminal investigation, dad was unable to donate his organs which were always his wishes. It pains me we were unable to meet his wishes.'
The Independent
4 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Teenagers' sentences ‘do not reflect severity of crime', say Bhim Kohli's family
The daughter of a pensioner who was racially abused, hit with a shoe and filmed being attacked when he was killed by two teenagers said she was 'angry and disappointed', saying the sentences did not reflect the crime. A 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl, who cannot be named because of their ages, were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on Thursday for the manslaughter of Bhim Kohli, aged 80, who was the victim of a 'wicked' attack near his home in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on September 1 last year. Both children had denied their part in killing the elderly dog walker, who died in hospital the day after the incident, but were convicted by a jury of manslaughter in April, while the boy was cleared of murder. High Court judge Mr Justice Turner handed the boy, who was aged 14 at the time of the killing, seven years' detention, and the girl, who was aged 12, a three-year youth rehabilitation order. The court heard that Mr Kohli was racially abused when the boy pushed, kicked and punched him, while the girl encouraged him by recording parts of the attack while laughing. Sentencing the pair, the judge said: 'I am sure Mr Kohli did nothing at all to deserve what you did. What you did was wicked.' Speaking outside court after sentencing, Mr Kohli's daughter Susan said her family's 'lives had been changed forever' because of the teenagers' attack. Ms Kohli said: 'The death of my dad has left a hole in our family, a hole that can never be filled because of the actions of two teenagers on that Sunday evening last September. 'I believe on that day the two teenagers made a choice. The teenage boy chose to attack my dad and the girl chose to film him being attacked. They knew what they were doing. 'I feel angry and disappointed that the sentence they have both received today does not, I believe, reflect the severity of the crime they committed. 'However, I understand the judge has guidelines, but they have taken a life, and, as a result, our lives have been changed forever. 'When they are released, they still have their full lives ahead of them. They can rebuild their lives. We can't.' Ms Kohli added that 'more could have been done' to prevent her father's death. She said: 'If police were able to have more visible patrols in the area following the previous reports of anti-social behaviour, then dad could still be alive today. 'We don't want any other family to endure the pain and heartbreak that we have of losing someone this way.' Ms Kohli said her father and some other neighbours had previously been subjected to assaults and racial abuse, and had reported two incidents to police. She said she thought her father would 'still be here' if there had been more of a police presence in the area. A Leicestershire Police investigation found there was 'no misconduct or missed opportunities which could have prevented' Mr Kohli's death. The force said in a statement: 'Organisational learning was identified in relation to logging and tagging incidents of anti-social behaviour. As part of our continual improvements in this area, discussion began at the start of 2024, leading to a new system which is now in place. 'We would always encourage you, our communities, to report anti-social behaviour incidents and concerns to the police or to your local council as soon as possible.'
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Telegraph
Girl who filmed killing of pensioner is spared jail
The family of an 80-year-old dog walker has said the sentences handed to his teenage killers 'do not reflect the severity of the crime', after a 13-year-old girl convicted of the attack walked free from court. Bhim Kohli was fatally attacked by a 15-year-old boy as racist abuse was shouted at him, while the girl filmed the killing on her mobile phone. At Leicester Crown Court on Thursday, the boy was ordered to serve seven years in prison while the girl was handed a three-month rehabilitation order. The sentences stand in contrast to that of Lucy Connolly, a childminder married to a Conservative councillor, who received a 31-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred with a tweet posted in the wake of the Southport murders. The girl had filmed a series of video clips in which Mr Kohli was slapped with the shoe by the masked boy and another where the pensioner lay motionless on the ground, the court previously heard. Mr Justice Turner said it had been a 'cowardly and violent attack' on an elderly man, who did ' nothing to deserve ' what happened to him. Mr Kohli's daughter, Susan, called for the parents of the killers to face court themselves after the sentences were handed down. She said: 'The parents have a part to play in it because, from what we heard in court, the children were out at crazy times. They were on the phones at gone midnight. These are children of the age of 12 and 14 [at the time of the killing]. 'How can a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old do something like this to an old-age pensioner? Do they not think, what if this happened to their parents, their grandparents? It is adults taking responsibility. Hold the parents accountable. Then bring them to court as well.' A six-week trial heard that Mr Kohli called out for help while walking his dog Rocky when he was assaulted by the balaclava-clad boy, while the girl laughed and filmed at Franklin Park, Braunstone Town, near Leicester on Sept 1 last year. Both children denied their part in the grandfather's death but were convicted of manslaughter by a jury at the same court in April. The boy was cleared of Mr Kohli's murder. The public gallery was packed with members of Mr Kohli's family for the day-long sentencing hearing. Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC said there was 'deliberate humiliation' of Mr Kohli during the attack, which came against a backdrop of 'bullying and antagonising' of the pensioner by other local youths. Mr Kohli's children found him lying on the ground in agony when he told his daughter that he had been called a 'P---' during the attack. In a victim impact statement, Mr Kohli's daughter, said: 'He was in so much pain, he was screaming out. It was horrendous and we have never seen him like this.' She said the family had been left 'broken' by what had happened to her father, adding: 'They left my dad on his own, helpless and in pain.' 'Haunted' relatives Simranjit Kohli, Mr Kohli's grandson, said in a statement read by Mr Sandhu that he was 'haunted' by his grandfather's death. 'I was the first one out of my family at the scene. Not a day goes by when I think, if I were minutes earlier I could have stopped what happened.' Mr Justice Turner said the attack had been 'wicked', and that evidence that suggested Mr Kohli told his daughter he was called a 'P---' during the attack was right, but that evidence from their mobile phones did not show they held 'general racist views'. He said: 'It was a lazy but very hurtful insult.' Addressing the boy, who was 14 at the time of the attack, the judge added: 'I'm sure you regret that he died because of what you did to Mr Kohli, but you still say it wasn't your fault. 'It was your fault and the sooner you realise this, the better.' Reasons for sentences He accepted that while the girl, who was 12 at the time of the attack, had encouraged the boy's behaviour, she did not know he would use 'anything like the level of violence he did'. Giving his reasons for the sentences, the judge said the girl had not played a 'leading role' in the killing, and did 'not hurt Kohli directly'. He said there were a number of mitigating factors, including no previous convictions and a troubled upbringing, and that a short custodial sentence would do more harm than good. Alongside the youth rehabilitation order, she will also be under an electronically monitored curfew for six months. The judge told the boy he did not find he attacked Mr Kohli due to his race, even though the court heard he used racist language. 'You made a cowardly attack on an elderly man,' he said. Ms Kohli, speaking after the sentencing of her father's teenage killers, said she is 'angry and disappointed' that their sentence does not reflect the severity of the crime. Ms Kohli said: 'I believe on that day the two teenagers made a choice. The teenage boy chose to attack my dad and the girl chose to film him being attacked. They knew what they were doing. 'I feel angry and disappointed that the sentence they have both received today does not, I believe, reflect the severity of the crime they committed. 'However, I understand the judge has guidelines, but they have taken a life, and, as a result, our lives have been changed forever. 'When they are released, they still have their full lives ahead of them. They can rebuild their lives. We can't.'
Gulf Today
4 days ago
- Gulf Today
UK teens sentenced for killing 80-year-old grandfather
A UK judge Thursday sentenced a 15-year-old boy to seven years' detention for the "wicked" killing of an octogenarian grandfather but a girl who filmed the attack on her phone was spared custody. The killing of Bhim Kohli, 80, as he walked his dog in a park on the outskirts of Leicester in central England last September is one of several cases of youth violence that has shocked the UK in past months. The boy, who was 14 and wearing a balaclava at the time of the killing punched, kicked and racially abused Kohli during the attack. He suffered a broken neck and rib fractures and died in hospital the following day after being found lying on the ground by his children. The girl, then aged 12, encouraged the assault and laughed as she filmed it on a phone. She later stored a series of clips of the violence in a password protected folder on Snapchat. Passing sentence, judge Mark Turner told the boy: "What you did was wicked. You made a cowardly and violent attack on an elderly man." He sentenced the girl, now aged 13, to a three-year youth rehabilitation order and an evening curfew. Kohli's family told the court in a victim impact statement they were haunted by how his attackers left him "on his own, helpless and in pain" just a short distance from his home. "Losing dad in these cruel, violent and deeply shocking circumstances feels like our hearts have been pulled apart," his daughter Susan Kohli said. The teenagers, who cannot be named because of their ages, were convicted of manslaughter in April following a six-week trial. The boy had also been charged with murder but was found not guilty on that count. Speaking outside Leicester Crown Court after the sentencing, Susan Kohli added that she was "angry and disappointed" by the leniency of the sentences. "I believe on that day the two teenagers made a choice. The teenage boy chose to attack my dad and the girl chose to film him being attacked. They knew what they were doing," she told reporters. "I feel angry and disappointed that the sentence they have both received today does not, I believe, reflect the severity of the crime they committed," she said. Agence France-Presse
The Independent
4 days ago
- The Independent
Pensioner killed in brutal park attack was ‘adored' by community, daughter says
A grandfather who was killed by two teenagers as he walked his dog in the park was a 'family man through and through' and 'adored' by the community, his daughter has said. Bhim Kohli, 80, was just yards away from his home in Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, when he was kicked and punched in Franklin Park by a balaclava-clad boy on the evening of September 1 last year. The 15-year-old boy was ordered to serve seven years' detention and a 13-year-old girl was handed a three-year rehabilitation order by a High Court judge on Thursday at Leicester Crown Court for his manslaughter. A trial heard Mr Kohli was racially abused and slapped in the face with a slider shoe by the boy while the girl filmed and laughed. In an interview, Mr Kohli's daughter Susan Kohli said her father was 'the most crazy, loving person you could meet'. She said the family had moved away from Braunstone Town, where they had lived since the late 80s, for two years but returned to the area before her father was killed because her mother Satinder missed living there. They are now considering leaving the area again because of the painful memories of her father's death in a park he visited often. Ms Kohli said: 'We never had any problems. It only just started a couple of months prior to dad passing. 'It was peaceful. We came back, not knowing two-and-a-half years later, that that neighbourhood was going to take our dad. 'We have been discussing, do we leave? Do we move? As much as we have all our memories there, we have that one memory. 'But even if we do move, it is never going to go away. Also, why should we move? Because if we move, that just means they have won. 'They have pushed us out from a place we have always called home. We love the area, we love the community, our neighbours are our whole family and we know if we go and move we won't get that anywhere else.' The fatal attack on Mr Kohli was the last of several incidents involving local youths, including one in the July before he died in which he was racially abused and spat on, his daughter said. An emotional Ms Kohli said her father was not one to 'pick a fight' and although some incidents were reported to the police, the family just wanted the children involved to be given a 'firm talking to'. She recalled her father's passion for working on his allotment, how he would always put his family first and would spend hours in the park where he was later attacked talking to people as he walked his dog Rocky. She said: 'He just got on with life and was full of life. He was a complete joker, he would do anything and everything for his family. 'He would always put the children and his family first. He was a family man through and through. Even his friends adored him, the community adored him. 'You would walk through the park and everyone would just talk to him – they would just stand and chat to him. 'He'd be in the park for an hour and the dog would be sitting at the front door because he came home. He was much loved by everyone. ' People who hadn't seen him for 30 or 40 years reached out when it happened and that just showed how much people loved my dad even though they didn't see him for so long.' Ms Kohli said Rocky was 'lost' without her father, adding: 'We all are.' Despite her pain, Ms Kohli, who sat through every day of the trial of her father's killers, said hate was a 'strong word' but the teenagers had shown no remorse for what they had done and instead told 'lie after lie'. She said: 'I feel anger. There is part of hate, because they took my dad. They took my dad away from us for no reason whatsoever. 'Anyone who can do something like that, there are no words for it. I could say some words but it wouldn't be appropriate, because then that just makes me as bad as them.' She added: 'There doesn't seem to be any remorse. We were there every day and there was no inkling that you could see that they were remorseful. 'There were inconsistencies in their evidence from the day they were questioned by the police to the day they were giving their defence statement a month prior to court and even when they were in the (witness box). It was just lie after lie.' Because of their age, the boy and girl were allowed to sit in the well of the court throughout the trial instead of the dock and barristers and the judge did not wear their traditional robes. Ms Kohli said she did not believe the teenagers deserved being treated with 'gentle gloves' after what they did to her father. She said: 'Why should they be given grace for what they have done? In my eyes, you chose to take my dad's life so why should you be treated with gentle gloves? 'It is not as though they chose to have a fight or beat up a young person of their own age, or someone in their 20s. 'They chose to attack a defenceless pensioner. And for that I can't give them any of my sympathy.' Ms Kohli said it was 'disturbing' having to watch the video clips the girl had made of the attack on her father during the trial. She said: 'It was really hard, really hard to watch that. They attacked dad several times. 'It started where they hit dad with the slider and he was on his knees. He then got up to leave the park and they didn't let him leave, and that is where we just can't understand why. 'Why would they not just let my dad leave the park? He was trying to come home. 'Children of that age attacking an old age pensioner. You can see from his physique that he's a very gentle, frail man. 'What was going through their heads? That is what I cannot understand and get my head around.' Ms Kohli said that while social media had a 'part to play', parents must also take more responsibility for their children. She said: 'They were out at crazy times, on the phones at gone midnight, these are children. 'I know this isn't to all parents but they need to know what their children are up to because how can a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old do something like this to an old age pensioner? 'Did they not think, what if that happened to their parents, their grandparents? How would they have felt? 'It's about adults taking responsibility. Hold the parents accountable then. Bring them to court as well.' Recalling the moment she ran to the park after being alerted to her father having been attacked, Ms Kohli said she knew it was serious because her father never usually complained about pain but was in 'agony' on the ground. She said: 'He never goes to the doctor, he's never in pain, he never complained he was in pain, it wasn't what he was about. 'He would never ever complain about being in pain, in agony, he would just get up and carry on. 'It was absolutely heartbreaking to see him in pain like that when he's never complained about being in pain, never in his life.' Ms Kohli said her family had been left 'broken' by her father's death. She said: 'He was the one that held us all together and that's gone now.'
