Murder trial racism claim 'wicked lie', court told

1 hour ago

Curtis Lancasterat Southampton Crown Court

News image — Henry Nowak, 18, died in a Southampton street in December

Police handout An 18-year-old man standing in front of orange, white and black balloons by a window. He has short dark hair and is smiling and is wearing a blue jacket and a black top underneath. — Henry Nowak, 18, died in a Southampton street in December

Claims of racial abuse made by a man accused of fatally stabbing a first-year university student were a "wicked lie", a court has heard.

Henry Nowak, 18, from Chafford Hundred in Essex, was killed on 3 December as he walked back from a night out in Southampton.

Vickrum Digwa, 23, claims he acted in self-defence after the teenager used a racist insult, punched him and knocked his turban off, Southampton Crown Court heard.

Digwa denies charges of murder, manslaughter and carrying a knife in public, while his mother Kiran Kaur, 53, denies assisting an offender.

During the trial's closing speeches, prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg KC rejected the defendant's account that he had been racially abused before the attack.

"It is not a case about Sikhism, it is not a case about racism, it's a case about murder," he told jurors.

Lobbenberg said Digwa was "a man who likes weapons" who had been "training with weapons since he was 12" and had searched for them online.

He added that Digwa "chooses to carry a sharp knife on the streets of Southampton" and questioned the religious justification for doing so.

A police cordon with a Police Slow sign, blue tape, a police officer and a police car blocking the road. A pedestrian crossing can be seen in the foreground with other vehicles including lorries in the background. — Police were called to the scene in Belmont Road

For the defence, Jeremey Wainwright KC said prosecutors had downplayed the importance of the kirpan, a ceremonial blade worn by observant Sikhs.

"To dismiss that sacred code as religious bits and bobs may tell you where the prosecution are coming from," he said.

He added: "He's carried that knife in the same way that he does in every day in his life, as part of his religion."

Jurors were told there were no witnesses to the start of the confrontation. The defence said Digwa reacted while "under attack, in pain and scared".

Digwa's mother is accused of helping her son by hiding the knife.

Mark Watson KC, representing Kaur, said she was distressed, uninformed, and placed the item among religious objects at home.

He added that "you don't put it back where it normally is and is normally accessible" if you were trying to hide it.

"The Crown say she must have known," he said, adding: "Assumption has no place in this courtroom."

Previously, the court heard that the University of Southampton student was walking back to his accommodation after drinking to a level below the drink-drive limit.

Police initially handcuffed the victim before discovering his fatal injury a short time later.

The trial continues.