Sikh man accused of murdering Essex teen claims self-defence over racial abuse
Vickrum Digwa is on trial over the stabbing of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, from Chafford Hundred, with a religious knife in Southampton
A Sikh man accused of the murder of a first-year university student has told a court that he had acted in self-defence after the teenager had racially abused him and knocked his hair out of his turban before grabbing it.
Vickrum Digwa is on trial at Southampton Crown Court charged with the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, from Chafford Hundred, Essex, in Belmont Road, Southampton, on December 3 2025.
The 23-year-old is also charged with carrying a knife in public and his mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, is accused of assisting an offender by removing a weapon from the scene.
The court has heard that Digwa was carrying a kirpan – a religious knife – with a 21cm blade which the prosecution says caused five stab wounds to Mr Nowak, including two to the back of his legs and a fatal wound to the chest.
The defendant told the court that he had been walking near to his home when he stepped on to the road when he saw Mr Nowak walking towards him, looking “drunk”, not walking in a straight line and “stumbling a little”.
He said that Mr Nowak then said to him: “You could have moved up a little bit more.”
Digwa said: “I then turned around and said ‘You’re right, I could have moved up, carry on with your day’. I then said ‘You’re drunk, I am just trying to get to my car, you’re right, sorry’.
“He was saying stuff ‘You think you are a bad man’, he was saying stuff like ‘I am from Essex, you do not know what people from Essex are on’.”
Digwa said he felt that Mr Nowak was “threatening” him and saying to him ‘You think you’re a bad boy’ before Mr Nowak pulled out his phone to record him.
He said: “I was thinking in my mind he’s recording me and this has just escalated. During these months there had been a lot of attacks on Sikhs and a lot of them had been videoed as well by the attackers.”
Digwa said he then reached to block the phone and grabbed it, which he said was followed by Mr Nowak punching him because he wanted his phone back.
He said that Mr Nowak then punched off his turban and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him so he had bent over.
He said at this point he pulled his kirpan knife out of its sheath and stabbed Mr Nowak to the back of his legs but said he was not aware of Mr Nowak being stabbed in the chest.
The defendant said it was at this point that his brother arrived which then led to the emergency services being called.
When asked why he had not told police that he had stabbed Mr Nowak, he said: “I was scared, this is the first time anything like this had ever happened.”
Digwa said that he had asked his mother, who along with his father arrived at the scene, to hold his kirpan while he picked up his religious items which had fallen to the ground during the incident.
The prosecution has said that Kaur took the kirpan back to the nearby family home where it was later found.
Digwa said: “I felt abused, scared, it made me feel a bit better that I had my family there. My mind was fuzzy, everything went on so quickly, I couldn’t comprehend everything that was going on.”
He added that the first time he was aware that Mr Nowak had been stabbed in the chest was in his first police interview.
Digwa said that he found out that Mr Nowak had died while in the police station and said: “I cried, I was scared. I didn’t mean to do it and I am sorry it happened.”
The defendants deny the charges and the trial continues.