Sentence handed to teenage boy for Leicestershire park manslaughter to be reviewed
The Court of Appeal is going to look into the custodial term handed to a 15 year old boy convicted over Bhim Kholi's death last year
The sentence handed to a teenage boy convicted of killing an 80-year-old man who was filmed being attacked, slapped in the face with a shoe and racially abused while walking his dog in Leicestershire will be reviewed by the Court of Appeal.
Bhim Kohli called out for help when he was attacked in Franklin Park, Braunstone near Leicester in September last year.
He died the next day with a spinal cord injury and fractured ribs.
Last month, Mr Justice Turner sentenced a boy, aged 15, who punched and kicked Mr Kohli, to seven years in custody, and a 13-year-old girl, who encouraged the attack by filming parts of it while laughing, to a three-year youth rehabilitation order.
Both children, who cannot be named because of their age, denied their crimes but were convicted by a jury at Leicester Crown Court.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office said the case will be reviewed under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
The spokesperson said in a statement: "The Solicitor General, Lucy Rigby KC MP, was appalled by this violent, cowardly attack on an innocent man.
"She wishes to express her deepest sympathies to Bhim Kohli's friends and family at this difficult time.
"After undertaking a detailed review of the case, the Solicitor General concluded the sentence of the 15-year-old boy could be referred to the Court of Appeal.
"The court will determine if the sentence is increased or not."
Mr Kohli's daughter spoke of feeling "angry and disappointed", adding that she believes their sentences do not "reflect the severity of the crime they committed".
In a statement after the sentencing hearing, Susan Kohli said: "When they are released, they still have their full lives ahead of them. They can rebuild their lives. We can't."
Mid Leicestershire MP Peter Bedford and the MP for South Leicestershire, Alberto Costa, wrote to the AGO last month asking for the sentences to be reviewed.
It is understood the sentence of the 13-year-old girl will not be referred to the Court of Appeal as the threshold had not been met.
A six-week trial heard that Mr Kohli's children found him lying on the ground in agony when he told his daughter that he had been called a "P***" during the attack.
The boy said in his evidence 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 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."
The girl had filmed a series of video clips in which the elderly man was hit with the shoe by the balaclava-clad boy and another where Mr Kohli lay motionless on the ground.
She was heard laughing in the video clips which she kept in a passcode protected Snapchat folder.
In his sentencing remarks last month, Mr Justice Turner said: "I am sure Mr Kohli did nothing at all to deserve what you did. What you did was wicked.
"You made a cowardly and violent attack on an elderly man."