Boy hit pensioner out of ‘instinct’ in park tussle over shoe, murder trial told
Bhim Kohli, 80, died after he was injured in a park near Leicester on September 1 last year.
A balaclava-clad boy slapped a pensioner in the face out of “instinct” after the elderly man grabbed his shoe and then pushed him to the ground to defend his friend, a murder trial has been told.
Jurors heard that the 15-year-old boy agreed he had anger issues but did not want to hurt 80-year-old Bhim Kohli after they had a “tussle” over his slider and the boy “hit him for no reason”.
Leicester Crown Court heard allegations that Mr Kohli was racially abused before he was kicked and punched on the ground and slapped in the face with a slider shoe by a 15-year-old boy, while a 13-year-old girl filmed part of the alleged attack and laughed.
The 15-year-old youth is on trial having denied Mr Kohli’s murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter, while the 13-year-old girl denies manslaughter.
Both children cannot be named because of their ages.
The male defendant gave evidence on Wednesday, with an intermediary standing next to him, and told the court he thought Mr Kohli was going to “push” or “hit” the female defendant.
The boy agreed he had carried a balaclava, which he told the court he calls a “bally”, on the day of the alleged attack, and when asked why he wore it the defendant replied: “Fashion.”
He denied that he had worn the balaclava because he was going to do something bad.
Asked by his defence barrister Balraj Bhatia KC what the group of five children, including the boy and girl, were doing in Franklin Park that evening, the boy said: “We just sat down and just chilled. I think we were just gossiping about anything really.”
The boy told the jury that the group saw an elderly man walking his dog when the 13-year-old girl is alleged to have told them “something along the lines of ‘he carries a knife’”.
The boy told the court: “I got up and I walked over to him, just me. I wanted to talk to him about it to see if he had a knife. I asked him if he had a knife. He ignored me. I asked him twice.
“He had a straight face. He was walking towards me a little bit so I walked back. We were already in talking range as it was, so he did not need to be closer.”
The boy said when he was walking backwards one of his sliders “slipped off”.
He told the court: “I went to grab it but he (Mr Kohli) grabbed it before me. He still had a straight face but it looked like he was a bit angrier.”
The jury had been shown a video, taken by the 13-year-old girl, which shows a boy slapping Mr Kohli in the face with a slider while he was on his knees.
Asked why he hit the man with the shoe, the boy replied: “It was an instinct. When I got my slider back it was the first thing that popped up into my head.”
Mr Bhatia asked how the boy felt about the video, to which he said: “I feel upset about it. The fact that I hit him for no reason.”
In another video clip taken by the girl, Mr Kohli is seen laying on his side on the ground while a boy walks away.
Asked how Mr Kohli got on the floor, the boy told the court: “He was sort of walking towards us with his hand in the air saying something. An angry voice.
“As he was coming towards us I was like walking to the bench still and he went into (the female defendant’s) way.
“I did not see anything but I thought he was going to do something, I thought he was either going to push her or hit her.
“I sort of ran at him and at the last moment pushed him. He was kind of already pretty much in front of (the girl). He fell to the floor. I fell on top of him. I think I landed on his ribs.”
The boy told the court he lied in his police interview when he told detectives Mr Kohli “went to slap” him, and when asked why he lied he said: “I’m not sure to be honest.”
The boy said he did not see Mr Kohli hit the girl or pull a knife out, both of which he claimed in a message sent to his friend after the alleged attack.
The boy told the court: “I panicked. I did not want people to think bad of me. That I hurt Mr Kohli.”
Asked if people would think badly of him if he attacked an 80-year-old man for no reason, the boy said: “Yes.”
The boy denied that he wanted to hurt Mr Kohli or to kill him and denied punching, kicking or stamping on him.
Asked if he is someone who has anger issues, the boy replied: “Yes.”
The court heard he “panicked” and thought Mr Kohli was dead, and agreed he “did not want to leave him dead” so he asked a woman he found nearby to call an ambulance.
The trial continues.
