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A person has been jailed for life with a minimum period of 23 years for the homicide of a teenage Syrian asylum seeker after the victim brushed past his companion in Huddersfield town centre.

Court Learns Particulars of Fatal Altercation

The court in Leeds was told how Alfie Franco, twenty, knifed the victim, 16, shortly after the boy brushed past his companion. He was found guilty of the killing on the fourth day of the week.

Ahmad, who had escaped war-torn Homs after being wounded in a blast, had been living in the Huddersfield area for only a short period when he met his attacker, who had been for a jobcentre appointment that day and was going to buy cosmetic adhesive with his girlfriend.

Details of the Attack

Leeds crown court heard that the accused – who had taken cannabis, a stimulant drug, diazepam, ketamine and codeine – took “a trivial issue” to the teenager “harmlessly” going past his companion in the public space.

Security camera video showed the man uttering words to Ahmad, and summoning him after a short verbal altercation. As the youth came closer, the attacker unfolded the knife on a folding knife he was concealing in his clothing and thrust it into the teenager's throat.

Verdict and Sentencing

Franco denied murder, but was judged guilty by a trial jury who deliberated for just over three hours. He confessed to carrying a blade in a public area.

While sentencing the defendant on the fifth day of the week, the court judge said that upon observing the victim, Franco “singled him out and drew him to within your range to assault before killing him”. He said his statement to have noticed a knife in the boy's clothing was “false”.

He said of Ahmad that “it is a testament to the healthcare workers trying to save his life and his desire to survive he even made it to the hospital alive, but in truth his injuries were fatal”.

Family Impact and Message

Reciting a declaration written by the victim's uncle Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, with input from his parents, Richard Wright KC told the judges that the boy's dad had suffered a heart attack upon hearing the news of his boy's killing, causing him to require surgery.

“Words cannot capture the impact of their terrible act and the influence it had over everyone,” the message stated. “The victim's mother still sobs over his garments as they smell of him.”

He, who said the boy was like a son and he felt ashamed he could not keep him safe, went on to declare that the victim had thought he had found “a peaceful country and the achievement of aspirations” in England, but instead was “brutally snatched by the pointless and random violence”.

“As Ahmad’s uncle, I will always carry the guilt that he had come to the UK, and I could not protect him,” he said in a message after the judgment. “Our beloved boy we adore you, we miss you and we will feel this way eternally.”

History of the Victim

The proceedings learned the teenager had journeyed for 90 days to get to England from his home country, staying at a shelter for youths in Swansea and studying in the local college before arriving in West Yorkshire. The teenager had hoped to work as a doctor, driven in part by a hope to look after his mother, who had a chronic medical issue.