A 13-year-old girl laughed and encouraged a 15-year-old boy to attack an 80-year-old grandfather, a court has heard.
Bhim Kohli died in hospital on 2 September last year, a day after he was allegedly attacked in Franklin Park near his home in Braunstone Town, on the outskirts of Leicester.
A 15-year-old boy is charged with Mr Kohli’s murder and manslaughter, while a 13-year-old girl is charged with his manslaughter. Neither child can be named because of their ages.
The pair appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday for the start of a trial where, because of the defendants’ ages, the judge and barristers will not be wearing gowns and wigs.
The youths were also seated at the back of the courtroom, instead of in the dock.
Throughout the proceedings the girl listened impassively, whilst the boy often sat with his head bowed, doodling on a notepad, and playing with sensory “fidget” toys.
Harpreet Sandhu KC, prosecuting, told the court that the boy had put on a balaclava in preparation for the violence he was about to inflict on Mr Kohli.
He then showed a number of video clips which had been filmed by the girl and were later recovered from a private file in her phone.
The first showed Mr Kohli on his knees in the park as a youth slapped him across the face with a slider shoe.
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Another showed Mr Kohli lying seemingly inert on the ground.
One of Mr Kohli’s sons wiped a tear from his face as he watched the videos.
In an account given to a paramedic at the scene, Mr Kohli had said the boy had called him a racial slur, then punched and kicked him as the girl watched.
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A post-mortem examination established that Mr Kohli died from a neck injury, and also had several fractured ribs.
The court heard that the boy told police in a pre-prepared statement that he had confronted Mr Kohli because he thought he had been threatening children in the park with a flick knife.
The prosecution maintained there was no knife, and that the boy’s description of events was complete fabrication.
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The pair deny the charges against them.
The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.
