A man who stabbed a 16-year-old Syrian refugee in the neck after he brushed past his girlfriend has been found guilty of murder.
Alfie Franco, 20, was on Thursday convicted of killing Ahmad Al Ibrahim on a busy shopping street in Huddersfield earlier this year.
Ahmad, who fled war-torn Homs as an unaccompanied child refugee after being injured in a bombing, had only been living in the West Yorkshire town for a couple of weeks.
Jurors at Leeds Crown Court heard that on 3 April, Ahmad, whose parents said had dreamed of being a doctor, was walking around the town with a friend while Franco was going to buy eyelash glue with his girlfriend after a Jobcentre appointment.
When they crossed paths, prosecutors said Franco took “some petty exception” to Ahmad “innocuously” walking past his girlfriend, and CCTV footage showed Franco saying something to Ahmad, before calling him over after a short verbal altercation.
As Ahmad walked over, Franco opened the blade on a flick knife he was carrying and drove it into the teenager’s neck.
The court heard that Franco had used cannabis before the encounter. Later tests also revealed he had recently used cocaine, diazepam, ketamine and codeine.
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Footage played during the trial showed Ahmad clutching his throat and staggering a few yards up the street, before collapsing.
The court was told how Franco kept the knife hidden “in a sly way” until the last second so that Ahmad, who was unarmed, “didn’t have a chance”.
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‘A young man with a cocky swagger’
After the stabbing, Franco fled the scene before handing himself in at a police station, telling officers in an interview he had been acting in self-defence.
Franco, who returned to Huddersfield from South Africa at the age of 13, also told officers he had spent years as the only white boy in the Cape Flats, where “if a boy came for you with aggression, they are either coming to hurt you or kill you”.
But prosecutor Richard Wright KC said that “to plunge that knife into someone’s neck who has done no more than walk towards you after you’ve engaged them in some verbal argy-bargy in the street… that’s not reasonable self-defence”.
During the trial, Franco told the court he thought he had seen Ahmad reaching for a weapon in his waistband during the altercation and said he had only been aiming for the boy’s cheek, and wanted to “cut him and get away”.
Mr Wright added: “This is a case of a young man with a cocky swagger, wandering around town with his girlfriend, on drugs, who doesn’t like the fact that Ahmad has spoken back to him.”
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‘I will always carry the guilt’: Ahmad’s uncle
After the verdict, Ahmad’s uncle, Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, said that the 16-year-old “had travelled from Syria to the UK, and this was meant to be his opportunity to create a better life for himself, leaving behind his parents and siblings in a war-torn country”.
He added: “I cannot begin to imagine how Ahmad was feeling in his final minutes. Alone in a strange country that should have been the place where he was safe.
“The image of having to identify my nephew and then having to break the news to my brother and sister-in-law, and relay to them what had happened to their precious son, will never leave me.
“His parents are heartbroken beyond words. As Ahmad’s uncle, I will always carry the guilt that Ahmad had come to the UK, and I could not keep him safe.”
On his hopes of becoming a doctor, Ahmad’s family said he wanted “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 was found guilty of murder by a jury after just over three hours of deliberations. He also admitted a charge of possessing a knife in a public place at an earlier hearing.
He will be sentenced on Friday afternoon.
