Man GUILTY of murdering 16 year old Syrian refugee in Huddersfield
20-year-old Alfie Franco stabbed Ahmad Al Ibrahim in April this year
A West Yorkshire man has been found guilty of murdering a teenage Syrian refugee in an attack on a busy Huddersfield shopping street.
Ahmad Al Ibrahim had been living in Huddersfield for a couple of weeks when he was stabbed, by 20-year-old Alfie Franco, in April this year.
Prosecutors said Franco "appears to have taken some petty exception" to Ahmad possibly making some "minor contact" with his girlfriend after "innocuously" walking past her.
Leeds Crown Court jurors have heard Franco called Ahmad over to him and, as he approached, the defendant opened the blade on a flick knife he was carrying and drove it into the boy's neck.
Franco told a trial he stabbed Ahmad because he was "scared something was going to happen to me".
He told the court Ahmad was "quite aggressive" during the altercation and "kept going for his waist".
Franco said he was in the West Yorkshire town centre that day for a Jobcentre appointment and that his girlfriend then wanted to buy some eyelash glue.
Asked why he took the knife with him, he said: "Because I've been in altercations and heard things that happen in town. I just wanted to have it with me... to keep me safe."
It took jurors just three hours 11 minutes to reach a verdict in the case.
After Ahmad's death, his family said he came to the UK after being injured in a bombing to live with his uncle and dreamed of becoming a doctor, "wanting to heal others after all he had endured".
They said: "He chose to come to the UK because he believed in the values of human rights, safety, and dignity... He had just begun settling into his new life with his uncle, adjusting to a new language, a new home, and a future he was excited to build.
"Ahmad was kind, gentle, and carried so much promise. Losing him has left an unimaginable emptiness in our hearts.
"We never thought that the place he saw as a safe haven would be where his life would end."
Franco has already admitted a charge of possessing a knife in a public place.
He'll face sentencing at a later date.