🔗 Share this article

A individual has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 23 years for the killing of a young Syrian asylum seeker after the boy walked by his girlfriend in Huddersfield town centre.

Court Learns Particulars of Fatal Confrontation

Leeds crown court was told how Alfie Franco, twenty, attacked with a knife Ahmad Al Ibrahim, 16, not long after the boy passed Franco’s girlfriend. He was found guilty of homicide on Thursday.

The teenager, who had fled battle-scarred his Syrian hometown after being injured in a explosion, had been residing in the local community for only a few weeks when he met his attacker, who had been for a employment office visit that day and was going to buy cosmetic adhesive with his female companion.

Details of the Assault

The trial learned that Franco – who had consumed weed, a stimulant drug, diazepam, an anesthetic and codeine – took “a minor offense” to the boy “without malice” going past his girlfriend in the road.

Security camera video displayed the man uttering words to the victim, and calling him over after a quick argument. As the youth walked over, the attacker opened the blade on a switchblade he was holding in his pants and drove it into the teenager's throat.

Verdict and Judgment

The defendant pleaded not guilty to murder, but was found guilty by a panel of jurors who considered the evidence for about three hours. He admitted guilt to carrying a blade in a public area.

While delivering the judgment on the fifth day of the week, the presiding judge said that upon spotting the teenager, Franco “singled him out and enticed him to within your reach to assault before killing him”. He said his statement to have seen a weapon in the boy's clothing was “false”.

Crowson said of the teenager that “it is evidence to the doctors and nurses trying to save his life and his desire to survive he even made it to the hospital alive, but in fact his injuries were fatal”.

Relatives Impact and Message

Reading out a message written by his relative his uncle, with help from his family, Richard Wright KC told the judges that the teenager’s father had suffered a heart attack upon learning of the incident of his boy's killing, causing him to require surgery.

“I am unable to describe the consequence of their awful offense and the influence it had over everyone,” the message read. “The boy's mom still cries over his garments as they remind her of him.”

The uncle, who said the boy was like a son and he felt guilty he could not keep him safe, went on to declare that the victim had thought he had found “the land of peace and the fulfilment of dreams” in England, but instead was “tragically removed by the pointless and random violence”.

“In my role as his uncle, I will always bear the shame that Ahmad had come to the UK, and I could not ensure his safety,” he said in a statement after the sentencing. “Ahmad we love you, we miss you and we will do for ever.”

History of the Victim

The proceedings learned the teenager had travelled for 90 days to get to England from the Middle East, stopping in a refugee centre for teenagers in a city in Wales and going to school in the Welsh city before relocating to West Yorkshire. The boy had aspired to be a physician, driven in part by a desire to support his parent, who had a chronic medical issue.