15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl found guilty of manslaughter of Leicestershire pensioner
80 year old Bhim Kohli had taken his dog around the block to Franklin Park in Braunstone Town in September last year
A 15 year old boy and 13 year old girl have been found guilty of the manslaughter of a Leicestershire pensioner who died from injuries sustained while out walking his dog round the block.
Neither child can be named because of their ages.
The jury spent over six hours deliberating before returning the guilty verdicts. They also found the 15-year-old boy not guilty of murder.
It was on the 1st of September last year, that 80 year old Bhim Kohli took his dog around the block to Franklin Park in Braunstone Town.
Mr Kohli, was then found with serious injuries that evening near the Bramble Way entrance to the park. The following day he died in hospital.
Through the trial it's been understood that Mr Kohli encountered a group of youngsters in the area, two of which approached him. Parts of that interaction was filmed, and those clips, including one showing the pensioner lying on the ground as a boy walks away, were shown to the court.
The jury also saw CCTV evidence and heard the accounts of other witnesses.
An officer at the time described the circumstances surrounding Mr Kohli’s death as "extremely tragic and upsetting".
Police said a post-mortem had concluded he died as a result of a neck injury. An inquest opened in November 2024 also gave a preliminary cause of death as a neck injury. We believe that inquest remains adjourned until the criminal proceedings have finished.
What the jury heard in court:
Jurors were selected at Leicester Crown Court on Monday the 24th of February, ahead of the trial, which was expected to last around six to eight weeks.
It was heard by High Court judge Mr Justice Turner.
Opening the Crown's case at Leicester Crown Court, prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC said: "On September 1 last year, 2024, an 80-year-old man called Bhim Kohli did what he did each day.
"He left his home on Bramble Way in Leicester. Having left his home, he walked a few yards to the entrance of Franklin Park, where he was going to take his dog for a walk.
"On September 1, however, Mr Kohli would not get the opportunity to walk his dog for long and never would he return home. That is because in Franklin Park, Mr Kohli had the misfortune to encounter these two defendants."
Over the next few weeks, CCTV evidence, clips that were taken by one of the defendants, the accounts of witnesses on the day of the incident, and from the youngsters friends afterwards were brought before the court.
At the beginning the jury were told racist taunts were directed towards the pensioner, before he was "slapped" in the face with a shoe by the boy who was in a balaclava.
The prosecution called it an act of "pure violence", which was supposedly encouraged by the girl who filmed and laughed.
The boy later said he didn't mean to hurt Mr Kohli, and said it was just an 'instinct' having got his shoe back from him. While the girl said it was a 'shocking' moment and so it wasn't a laugh, but more of a gasp.
One witness, a teenager, said the 15-year-old boy appeared to be "overwhelmed, scared and nervous" days after the incident.
In a pre-recorded video interview played to the Court, the witness, who also cannot be named because of his age, said he had met the male defendant at about 8pm on September 2nd. At the time of the meeting, the witness said, he believed the victim of the attack "was just hospitalised" but understood from the conversation that he had been "battered".
When the young boy then gave evidence himself directly to the jury, he had an intermediary standing next to him, and he said he thought Mr Kohli was going to "push" or "hit" the female defendant.
Asked by his defence barrister Balraj Bhatia KC what the group of five children, including the boy and girl, were doing in Franklin Park that evening, the boy said: "We just sat down and just chilled. I think we were just gossiping about anything really." He then shared how someone mentioned how the man walking his dog in the park carried a knife, so the boy went to ask him about it.
"He had a straight face. He was walking towards me a little bit so I walked back. We were already in talking range as it was, so he did not need to be closer." The boy said when he was walking backwards one of his sliders "slipped off". The court heard there was a "tussle" over the slider which the boy won and caused Mr Kohli to "fall to his knees".
The jury had been shown a video, taken by the 13-year-old girl, which shows a boy slapping Mr Kohli in the face with a slider while he was on his knees. Asked why he hit the man with the shoe, the boy replied: "It was an instinct. When I got my slider back it was the first thing that popped up into my head." Mr Bhatia asked how the boy felt about the video, to which he said: "I feel upset about it. The fact that I hit him for no reason."
In another video clip taken by the girl, Mr Kohli is seen laying on his side on the ground while a boy walks away. The boy said that as the 80 year old approached them, he believed he was either going to push her or hit her (the female defendant).
"I sort of ran at him and at the last moment pushed him. He fell to the floor. I fell on top of him. I think I landed on his ribs."
The boy said he did not see Mr Kohli hit the girl or pull a knife out, both of which he claimed in a message sent to his friend. The boy also denied that he wanted to hurt Mr Kohli or to kill him and denied punching, kicking or stamping on him.
When the boy was cross-examined in the witness box, it was noted he looked towards the public gallery, where his mother was sitting, several times while he gave evidence.
That was then followed by the account of the 13 year old girl, who holding an orange fidget toy, told the court Mr Kohli hit the boy to the back of the legs with his slider shoe: "I saw Mr Kohli like hit (the boy) with the slider to the back of his legs. (The boy) turned around, grabbed the slider and then hit Mr Kohli round the head with it."
The girl denied that she could be heard laughing in the video instead saying it was "shocking so it was almost a gasp."
Jeremy Benson KC, defending the girl, asked: "Were you trying to encourage (the boy) to use violence?", to which she replied: "No."
The year eight school pupil also addressed Mr Kohli approaching them, saying "I thought that he was going to hit me because he was raising his arms in like a slapping motion. I kind of stepped back and flinched. (The boy) ran over to the man and pushed him."
She told the court the man was still breathing and had "no visible injuries", and added that she did not call for help because she "just wanted to get out the park".
She had previously told the court that she saw Mr Kohli hitting her friend with a "couple of sticks" on one occasion before the fatal incident, and a week or two before he died, Mr Kohli swore at her when other children were throwing apples at him.
Who was Bhim Kohli?
The family of the 80-year-old say he was a loving husband, dad and grandad, and also a son, brother and uncle, adding that their hearts are 'truly broken' by his death.
They said he adored his grandkids and loved spending time with them:
"He really was such a loving, caring person whose life was centred around his family.
“He has always been a very hardworking man and even at the age of 80 he was still very active. One of his great passions was his allotment, he would go everyday to tend to his plots and was so proud of them. He also enjoyed walking the family dog Rocky on the park many times a day.
“Bhim loved to laugh. He was always very happy and talkative, the joker of the family and always loved to outsmart us with a smile. Our family have lived in the same house in Braunstone for 40 years, so he was very well known in the community. Our hearts have been completely broken."