Teenage boy that killed a Leicester pensioner will not have his sentence changed
The 15-year-old was convicted of manslaughter earlier this year
A teenage boy who killed elderly dog walker Bhim Kohli in a Leicestershire park will not have his sentence for manslaughter changed, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Mr Kohli, 80, was punched and kicked, slapped in the face with a shoe and racially abused in an attack in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on September 1 last year, and died the next day.
The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years' custody in June.
The Solicitor General (SG), Lucy Rigby, referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
At a hearing on Wednesday, Lady Justice Macur, sitting alongside Mrs Justice Cutts and Mr Justice Murray, ruled that the boy's sentence was neither unduly lenient nor manifestly excessive.
She said: "We consider that the judge conscientiously executed the necessary sentencing exercise and conveyed his remarks to offender and co-defendant with great skill.
"We do not find that the sentence was unduly lenient."
Of the attempt to reduce the sentence, she said: "The sentence was a very significant sentence and necessarily so.
"It is entirely warranted by the seriousness of the offence. It is unarguable that the sentence was manifestly excessive."
Paul Jarvis KC, for the SG, said that although the sentencing judge did not identify a high risk of death, he did say there was a high risk of very serious harm.
He added: "We say, if not unduly lenient, most certainly not manifestly excessive."
Balraj Bhatia KC, for the boy, told the court that Mr Kohli's frailty meant "little or no force was required" to kill him.
He said: "Sadly, the vulnerability of the deceased's neck was such that had he spent a day on his beloved allotment and fallen accidentally, the result would have been the same."
The boy was convicted after a six-week trial in June at Leicester Crown Court, alongside a 13-year-old girl who also cannot be named.
She encouraged the attack by filming parts of it while laughing, with video clips showing the balaclava-clad boy hitting Mr Kohli with a shoe.
Another clip showed Mr Kohli lying on the ground motionless.
The girl took a photograph of Mr Kohli on her phone the week before the alleged incident, but denied she used this to "target" him, the trial heard.
Police also recovered a video from her phone of a group of children "confronting" an unknown man on a separate occasion, who was hit to the back of the head and called a "Paki bastard" while she was heard laughing.
The girl was sentenced to a three-year youth rehabilitation order by Mr Justice Turner, and her sentence was not referred to the Court of Appeal.
Mr Kohli's children found him lying on the ground in agony, and he told his daughter he had been called a "Paki" during the attack, the court heard during the trial.
Jurors also heard the boy say in his evidence that he had a "tussle" with Mr Kohli over his slider shoe before he slapped the elderly man with it out of "instinct", which caused the pensioner to fall to his knees, but he denied kicking or punching him.
In a letter written by the boy to a woman who had worked with him at the residential unit where he was being looked after, he wrote: "I f** hate what I did. I regret it so much.
"I have flashbacks of that day and it just upsets me. I kinda just needed anger etc releasing."
Speaking outside the court after the verdicts were returned, Mr Kohli's daughter, Susan Kohli, said her father was "brutally and cruelly" taken from his family.
She said: "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. He was the person who knitted our family together and we miss him every second of every day.
“Our house feels so empty without him and will never be the same."
Susan also shared how she "has no words" for the actions of those children, adding that "they took my dad away from us, for no reason what-so-ever."
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: "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.
"It's a no-win situation and it should never have happened."
There was an outcry from the local community after Mr Kohli's death, with flowers being left at the park and people coming together.