🔗 Share this article

A individual has been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years for the homicide of a teenage Syrian refugee after the teenager brushed past his girlfriend in Huddersfield town centre.

Court Learns Particulars of Deadly Altercation

A Leeds courtroom learned how the defendant, aged 20, stabbed the teenager, 16, soon after the boy brushed past the defendant's partner. He was convicted of murder on Thursday.

The teenager, who had escaped war-torn Homs after being wounded in a explosion, had been living in the West Yorkshire town for only a few weeks when he encountered the defendant, who had been for a meeting at the job center that day and was intending to purchase cosmetic adhesive with his female companion.

Particulars of the Incident

The court was informed that Franco – who had taken weed, cocaine, diazepam, an anesthetic and a painkiller – took “some petty exception” to the boy “without malice” walking past his partner in the public space.

Security camera video showed Franco saying something to the teenager, and calling him over after a short verbal altercation. As Ahmad approached, Franco unfolded the knife on a switchblade he was concealing in his pants and drove it into the boy’s neck.

Trial Outcome and Sentencing

Franco denied murder, but was convicted by a trial jury who took a little more than three hours to decide. He pleaded guilty to carrying a blade in a public place.

While sentencing the defendant on Friday, judge Howard Crowson said that upon observing the victim, the defendant “marked him as a victim and lured him to within your range to strike before taking his life”. He said his statement to have spotted a blade in the boy's clothing was “a lie”.

The judge said of the teenager that “it is evidence to the doctors and nurses working to keep him alive and his will to live he even arrived at the hospital breathing, but in truth his wounds were fatal”.

Relatives Impact and Message

Presenting a message prepared by Ahmad’s uncle Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, with input from his parents, the prosecutor told the court that the teenager’s father had had a heart episode upon being informed of his child's passing, leading to an operation.

“Words cannot capture the impact of their heinous crime and the impact it had over everyone,” the message said. “His mother still sobs over his belongings as they carry his scent.”

Ghazwan, who said the boy was dear to him and he felt guilty he could not keep him safe, went on to explain that Ahmad had thought he had found “a safe haven and the achievement of aspirations” in Britain, but instead was “tragically removed by the senseless and unprovoked act”.

“As Ahmad’s uncle, I will always carry the guilt that the boy had arrived in Britain, and I could not ensure his safety,” he said in a declaration after the sentencing. “Our beloved boy we adore you, we miss you and we will continue always.”

History of the Victim

The proceedings learned Ahmad had journeyed for a quarter of a year to reach the UK from his home country, visiting a asylum seeker facility for youths in the Welsh city and going to school in the local college before arriving in Huddersfield. The young man had dreamed of becoming a medical professional, motivated partly by a hope to look after his mother, who had a long-term health problem.