🔗 Share this article

A man has been sentenced to life with a minimum period of 23 years for the murder of a teenage Syrian asylum seeker after the boy passed his girlfriend in Huddersfield town centre.

Court Learns Details of Deadly Confrontation

Leeds crown court heard how the defendant, twenty, attacked with a knife the teenager, sixteen, not long after the boy passed his companion. He was declared guilty of the killing on Thursday.

The victim, who had escaped battle-scarred the city of Homs after being wounded in a blast, had been staying in the Huddersfield area for only a short period when he crossed paths with Franco, who had been for a meeting at the job center that day and was intending to purchase beauty product with his girlfriend.

Details of the Assault

The trial learned that the defendant – who had consumed marijuana, cocaine, diazepam, an anesthetic and codeine – took “a trivial issue” to the boy “innocuously” passing by his girlfriend in the street.

Security camera video showed Franco saying something to Ahmad, and calling him over after a quick argument. As the youth walked over, the attacker deployed the weapon on a flick knife he was carrying in his clothing and thrust it into the victim's neck.

Trial Outcome and Sentencing

The defendant pleaded not guilty to murder, but was found guilty by a trial jury who took a little more than three hours to decide. He pleaded guilty to having a knife in a public space.

While handing Franco his sentence on the fifth day of the week, the court judge said that upon spotting the teenager, the man “identified him as a target and drew him to within your range to strike before taking his life”. He said the defendant's assertion to have spotted a blade in the boy's clothing was “untrue”.

He said of Ahmad that “it is a testament to the healthcare workers trying to save his life and his determination to live he even made it to the hospital alive, but in reality his trauma were fatal”.

Relatives Reaction and Message

Presenting a statement written by the victim's uncle Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, with contributions from his mother and father, the legal representative told the trial that the victim's parent had suffered a heart attack upon hearing the news of his son’s death, leading to an operation.

“I am unable to describe the consequence of their awful offense and the influence it had over the whole family,” the message said. “His mother still weeps over his garments as they remind her of him.”

The uncle, who said his nephew was like a son and he felt ashamed he could not shield him, went on to declare that the victim had thought he had found “the land of peace and the realization of hopes” in England, but instead was “brutally snatched by the pointless and random violence”.

“As Ahmad’s uncle, I will always carry the guilt that Ahmad had come to the UK, and I could not keep him safe,” he said in a message after the verdict. “Our beloved boy we love you, we long for you and we will feel this way eternally.”

Background of the Victim

The court learned the victim had made his way for 90 days to get to England from his home country, visiting a shelter for teenagers in Swansea and attending college in the Welsh city before relocating to his final destination. The young man had aspired to be a medical professional, motivated partly by a wish to look after his mother, who suffered from a chronic medical issue.