He was hardly the first teenager to have his heart broken.
But the 15-year-old boy convicted of killing an elderly dog walker blamed his savage attack on being dumped by a girlfriend.
The youth, who was just 14 when he pounced on octogenarian Bhim Kohli in a park yards from the victim’s front door, was arrested the next day after police found him hiding in a bush.
The balaclava-clad boy’s cruel attack on Mr Kohli was the culmination of his descent from a football-loving schoolboy into a vicious thug.
The boy was raised by his unemployed mother on a council estate where neighbours complain that the stench of cannabis regularly hangs in the air.
While one neighbour told of her shock at seeing the boy’s descent into criminality, adding that she had never even heard the youth swear prior to his arrest, others spoke of a ‘rough’ upbringing in a single-parent household.
The youth racially abused and struck Mr Kohli around the face with a ‘slider’ sandal while on his knees as part of the ‘act of pure violence’ – which was filmed on a mobile phone by a laughing 12-year-old female friend, who stood trial alongside him.
Jurors heard that after the boy had been charged with murder and manslaughter, he wrote a letter to a support worker in which he said he regretted what he had done to the 80-year-old former factory owner.
In it he wrote: ‘My ex broke up with me and I was struggling with that so I kind of just needed anger etc releasing’.
He went on to say: ‘I’m so nervous, well scared and worried. I accept I did it and I am doing time. I am just scared about how long I have to do.’
When told the letter would have to be disclosed he replied: ‘That’s my manslaughter plea gone’.
Bhim Kohli, 80, regularly walked dog Rocky in the park where he was attacked
Mr Kohli, pictured with his wife Satinder, died from the effects of a spinal cord injury
Franklin Park in Leicester, where Mr Kohli was attacked
The boy, who also punched and kicked Mr Kohli before leaving the pensioner lying in agony at Leicester’s Franklin Park, was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter on Tuesday.
The girl, who is now 13, was also convicted of manslaughter after prosecutors said she ‘encouraged’ the alleged fatal assault.
Neither defendant can be named because of their ages. The boy was remanded in custody, while the girl was released on conditional bail.
They will be sentenced on 19 and 20 May.
Following the assault, Leicester Crown Court heard the boy boasted about what he had done to Mr Kohli, and lied that the grandfather had produced a knife.
In reply to a message saying the pensioner had been ‘smacked up’ in the park, the boy wrote: ‘I did that. I watched him pull a knife on a girl and hit her.
‘I didn’t mean to batter him. It was one hit and then my anger turned in. I regret it man, I do. I f***ed my life up. Everything is gone. I am sorry bro, I am.’
The boy was raised by his unemployed mother on a council estate where neighbours complain that the stench of cannabis regularly hangs in the air.
A new family photograph ofMr Kohli which was issued by Leicestershire Police on Tuesday
A keen football player and devoted Leicester City fan in his younger days, the boy was once dubbed ‘mini Vardy’ by his family in a reference to the club’s star striker Jamie Vardy.
Sharing images of her son on Facebook, when he was aged around eight or nine, his mother gave a sign of trouble to come, admitting he was a ‘nightmare 97 per cent of the time’.
‘He seemed to have a decent life’, a neighbour who has known the boy’s family for 30 years told MailOnline. ‘He went to all the Leicester City home games, he loves his football.
‘I have known him since he was born and I can’t remember him being in any kind of trouble. He doesn’t come across as aggressive.’
The woman, 64, added that he was ‘not the sort of boy you’d expect to be in trouble, let alone something as serious as this.’
But the court was told that the boy was keen to be seen as a ‘bad man’ who ‘ruled’ the area and was known for wearing a face covering.
Mr Kohli and dog Rocky were caught on a home security camera heading into the park
Soon after these images were taken, Mr Kohli was attacked, leaving dog Rocky to wander home alone
Balraj Bhatia KC, the boy’s defence barrister, said the jury could be forgiven for believing he was a ‘complete s***’ and should ‘rightly be disgusted, appalled and angry’ by his behaviour during the incident. But the barrister insisted his client didn’t intend to kill Mr Kohli.
The boy told jurors he had slapped Mr Kohli in the face with his slider out of ‘instinct’ after they were tussling over the shoe and ‘ran at him’ before pushing him over to defend the girl because he thought the elderly man was going to push or hit her.
Jurors heard that the evening after the attack – just 25 minutes before Mr Kohli passed away – the boy sent a laughing emoji to friends. Refering to police closing in on him, he added: ‘Feds know it is me. Got my name and picture.’
Told by one that he was ‘f*****’, the boy responded: ‘I know’.
Mr Kohli suffered fractured ribs and a spinal cord injury and died in hospital.
The court heard the two defendants had become friendly in the weeks before the attack, regularly exchanging messages.
But the girl’s neighbours also expressed shock that she was involved. One described the girl as ‘always respectful’ but admitted that they had not seen so much of her since she had started secondary school.
A separate clip from Leicestershire Police showed the teenagers running away from the scene
‘We were all really shocked,’ she said. ‘I had heard the boy has a reputation as a trouble maker to say the least. I think he was suspended a few times but I had never heard of her being rude to anyone.’
But others said the girl had changed in recent years and that she did not seem to be taking what had happened seriously.
One woman, who did not want to be named, said: ‘There was a time when we were walking home. A group of lads started shouting, ‘Murderer’ at her. She just laughed like it was a joke and said, ‘No, I’m not’ and went over to them.
‘She didn’t seem to be taking it all that seriously.’
Another woman in the neighbourhood said the girl ‘would just wander around on her own looking for friends to play with, trying to fit in with everyone’, and suggested her upbringing informed how she went on to behave.
The woman said that the girl had a role model who ‘facilitated the mindset that you should always strive to impress men’.
She added: ‘That’s probably what she was doing, fitting in with an older boy she liked, trying to act like the big girl all rough and ready. She will have been people-pleasing.’
Aerial pictures of the scene taken following the assault on Mr Kohli last September
Jurors heard that it was the girl who pointed out the elderly man in the park, and she laughed as she filmed him being hit with the shoe and even zoomed in. She also filmed him lying on the ground in agony.
Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC told jurors: ‘She knew there would be violence and she had a desire to capture it – and capturing it provided encouragement for the violence to be meted out.’
The court heard the girl regularly ‘recorded violence’ on her mobile phone, and had dozens of other recordings showing children fighting each other and another where an unidentified victim was called a ‘P***’ and had something thrown over him.
The three video clips of the attack on Mr Kohli were recovered from the girl’s mobile phone in a section of Snapchat called ‘my eyes only’ which requires a code for access, which the prosecution said was an attempt to hide the evidence.
Describing a video of the attack during a police interview, the girl said the boy ‘slapped’ Mr Kohli ’round the head with his slider’. Asked whether she got any enjoyment out of it, she replied: ‘Not really but it was a bit funny at the time.’
The court heard she had a picture of Mr Kohli on her phone, taken a week before the attack, and pointed him out to the boy when they saw him in the park on September 1 following previous altercations with him.
Prosecutors accused her of keeping the image on her phone so she could ‘target’ Mr Kohli.
Flowers and a note left for Mr Kohli, which reads ‘To Bin, always a true and dearest friend’
Susan Kohli, Bhim Kohli’s daughter, read a statement on the Leicester Crown Court steps after the verdicts today, saying: ‘My dad was brutally and cruelly taken away from us’
She was also accused of ‘egging’ on the boy, and Leicester Crown Court heard she remained with him during the attack to ‘support’ him when other teenagers they had been with ran away.
When asked why they had run away, one of those children said of the convicted boy to police: ‘Because we know, like, how (he) is …Like we know how (he) is, so he’s either gonna, like, either start on him or, like be mean to him or something’.
They were right to worry: moments after approaching Mr Kohli the boy was caught on camera slapping him with the slider as the frail victim cowered on the ground.
Mr Kohli was then subjected to further ‘gratuitous’ and ‘intense’ violence before he was found by his children lying in agony. The keen gardener who tended to his allotment daily, told them he had been kicked and punched and called a ‘P***’.
He was taken to hospital but died the next day.
Before the attack on Mr Kohli, the boy had taken his balaclava out of his Gucci bag and put it on which the prosecution said was ‘in preparation for violence’.
Asked why he had a balaclava or ‘bally’ as he called it, he replied simply, ‘Fashion’.
The boy’s trial heard how after fleeing the park and leaving his victim for dead, he searched for news stories about the attack and then, ten seconds later, for Adele tickets.
He read a BBC News story about the attack and sent group messages on Snapchat to the others he had been with in the park.
He also tried to find out if others had been arrested. Then when asked by a friend if he was ‘sh***ing it’, he replied with two laughing emojis and wrote ‘Nah, chilling bro’.
The boy later messaged his mother to say: ‘Police are looking for me because of Franklin (Park). I can’t come back tonight.’
Mr Kohli’s wife Satinder lays a floral tribute to her late husband by the park last September
She replied: ‘Going on the run ain’t gonna help anything, just come home and get it sorted please. I love you all the world and more, you are my son. If you don’t want me stressed come home, just making it worse for yourself, come home.’
However, the boy asked a friend if he could stay at their house, because he was ‘in a Fed (police) chase’, and ‘had ten officers after him’.
He went on to make further claims to Snapchat users that Mr Kohli had produced a knife, but he was told by one: ‘He’s 80. You don’t do that to an old man. You don’t do that. You’re vile.’
Then at 8.21pm that evening, September 2, he sent the laughing emoji to friends with the acknowledgement that the ‘Feds’ were closing in.
Soon after, his last message to a friend said he was ‘at yard (his house) grabbing money, then on a bus to Hinckley then on run’. He was arrested moments later.
Mr Kohli’s devastated wife, Satinder Kaur, holding condolence cards
Flowers left at the entrance to Franklin Park where Mr Kohli was attacked
The convictions came after jurors deliberated for six hours and 46 minutes following a six-week trial.
Mr Justice Turner further remanded the 15-year-old boy in custody and granted the female defendant bail, but said this was ‘no indication’ of what would be decided when she is sentenced
Following the verdicts, Leicestershire Police issued video footage issued showing Mr Kohli in the moments before the attack, before a separate clip showed the teenagers running away.
Susan Kohli, Bhim Kohli’s daughter, read a statement on the court steps after the verdicts into her father’s killing.
She said: ‘My dad was brutally and cruelly taken away from us when walking our dog Rocky in the park close to our home.
‘He was a devoted life partner to my mum for 55 years. He was a loving dad, grandad, brother and uncle, a retired businessman and a close friend to many, including people who lived in our local community.
‘He was an amazing man who loved life. He never took himself seriously, he was good fun to be around and very chatty.
‘He was the person who knitted our family together and we miss him every second of every day. Our home feels so empty without him and will never be the same.
‘Every time my mum opens the front door she thinks about what happened to her husband. Listening to the enormity of what happened, what dad was subjected to, will never leave us.
Police at Franklin Park in the aftermath of the attack
‘We feel angry 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.
‘Dad did not deserve this and wouldn’t wish this on anyone else.’
Speaking after the case, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Sinski, of Leicestershire Police, said Mr Kohli was a ‘much-loved grandfather’ who was ‘enjoying the simple things in life’ such as spending time with his family, tending to his allotment and walking his dog.
He said: ‘(Mr Kohli) used to grow vegetables for his neighbours, and a lot of his neighbours used to call him ‘grandad’, both as a term of affection and as respect to the absolute gentleman he was.
‘Clearly the fatal attack of an elderly man in a public park close to his home address by children has shocked the community and the family to the core. This should never have happened. Mr Kohli was a true family man. He was the centre of his family – a very beloved husband.
‘His family have been absolutely devastated by his loss. He was in the last stage of his life, but very fit and healthy and had a long life ahead of him still.
‘There’s been, from the boy, some superficial comment of remorse. I know (Mr Kohli’s) family’s position is that any remorse spoken isn’t true and it isn’t sincere.
‘This is a family – a South Asian family – that have lived without racist incidents within their community for many, many years.
‘Defenceless’ Mr Kohli had Rocky for 15 years and walked the pet daily after tending to his allotment
‘It’s extremely distasteful – any sort of racist motivation, even in part. And tragic that children should have that motivation. It’s a no-win situation and it should never have happened.’
Speaking alongside members of Bhim Kohli’s family on the steps of Leicester Crown Court after the verdicts, Mr Sinski added: ‘The circumstances surrounding this case are truly tragic and heartbreaking.
‘On that warm summer evening of Sunday the 1st of September last year, Mr Kohli was simply doing what he did every day, walking his dog on the park just a few yards from his home address.
‘But instead of being able to enjoy an evening stroll with his dog, Rocky, he was confronted by a teenage boy, who with the encouragement of the girl he was with, attacked an 80-year-old man – a defenceless man – and left him in agony on the floor.
‘Sadly, those injuries proved fatal and Mr Kohli died in hospital. His death has left not only a family grieving the loss of a beloved husband, father and grandfather, but the wider community too.’
Mr Sinski added: ‘Both the case and the subsequent trial have been complex and extremely sensitive due to the young ages of both defendants.
‘Today’s verdict will now mean that they will have to face the enormity of their actions that evening and the consequences that will now follow.’
