The family of an 80-year-old dog walker who was beaten to death have reacted with fury over his teen killers’ sentencing.
A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to only seven years in a young offenders’ detention center, while a 13-year-old girl was given a three-year youth rehabilitation order for their involvement in the death of Bhim Kohli.
On September 1 last year, 80-year-old Mr. Kohli was viciously attacked by a masked male at Franklin Park in Braunstone Tow near Leicester. Shockingly, the female accomplice recorded the attack and found it amusing.
Susan, Mr. Kohli’s daughter, expressed her disappointment with the sentencing outside Leicester Crown Court after the hearing.
‘I feel angry and disappointed that the sentence… does not, I believe, reflect the severity of the crime they committed,’ she said.
The grandfather had been racially abused and left on the ground near his home before his family found him severely injured in the evening.
He died in hospital the next day having suffered a broken neck and fractured ribs.
Today at Leicester Crown Court, the boy and girl – who cannot be named after it was ruled they must remain anonymous – were sentenced by Mr Justice Turner.
Bhim Kohli walks his dog in Braunstone near Leicester before he was killed in September 2024
A family photograph of Bhim Kohli which was issued by Leicestershire Police in April
Mr Kohli’s daughter, Susan (centre) gave an emotional statement outside Leicester Crown Court following the hearing where she criticised the sentences that were handed out
An aerial view of the scene last September, showing Mr Kohli’s home (bottom left)
A furious Ms Kohli said in an emotional statement after the hearing that her father’s death had left a hole in the family.
‘A hole that can never be filled because of the actions of two teenagers,’ she said.
‘I believe on that day the two teenagers made a choice; the boy chose to attack my dad and the girl chose to film him being attacked. They knew what they were doing.’
Ms Kohli added: ‘They have taken a life. When they are released they still have their full lives ahead of them. They can rebuild their lives. We can’t.’
She added that she felt that ‘more could have been done to prevent my dad getting killed’.
‘If police were able to have more visible patrols in the area following the previous reports of antisocial behaviour, then dad could still be alive today,’ she said.
‘We don’t want any other family to endure the pain and heartbreak that we have of losing someone this way.’
She said there had been ‘under-reporting’ of incidents of anti-social behaviour in the months leading up to the attack on her father and that the Government needs to do more to ensure police have the resources they need to safeguard communities.
Beginning his sentencing remarks, which were broadcast live on television, the High Court judge praised the family of Mr Kohli for their ‘dignity’ throughout the trial.
He said: ‘No one could fail to be deeply moved by what his daughter, in court, and his grandson, in a statement, have said. Their grief and anger will cast a long shadow over all of their lives.’
Mr Justice Turner, who referred to the boy as D1 and the girl as D2, said what the pair had done was ‘wicked’ – and the pensioner ‘did nothing to deserve’ being attacked
He said to the pair: ‘I am sure, D1, from the start you wanted to confront Mr Kohli, mainly because you were showing off to D2 – you knew she was watching and was likely to take films on her mobile phone.’
The judge said to the boy: ‘I am sure you knocked Mr Kohli to the ground and hit him with your sliders. I am sure Mr Kohli did nothing at all to deserve what you did. What you did was wicked. You made a cowardly and violent attack on an elderly man.’
Mr Justice Turner added that evidence that Mr Kohli told his daughter he was called a ‘P***’ during the attack was right, but that evidence from their mobile phones did not show they held ‘general racist views’. He said: ‘It was a lazy but very hurtful insult.’
Mr Justice Turner said the boy had decided in advance that he would be ‘hostile’ towards Mr Kohli, which was why he put his balaclava on before approaching him.
He said: ‘What you did was not one single attack which you immediately regretted, but two separate violent outbursts.’
The judge said using his slider shoe as a weapon was ‘more humiliating than dangerous’ and that he was ‘playing up to’ the girl and her video recording.
He said: ‘I’m sure you regret he died because of what you did to Mr Kohli, but you still say it wasn’t your fault. It was your fault and the sooner you realise this the better.’
The judge also told the girl that a short custodial sentence would do more harm than good, given the impact on her education.
Earlier during the hearing today, in a statement read out by prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC, Mr Kohli’s grandson Simranjit Kohli said he had been left wondering if his grandfather may have survived if he had got there sooner after he cried out for help.
He said: ‘My grandad was one of the most important factors of my life. He’s the main reason I am who I am. My story revolves around him and with him being taken away, it’s as though the author won’t be able to read his own book.
‘It’s painful for me and my family that we will never get to see if he is proud. We won’t get to see the smile on his face when his grandkids get a house, get a car, then get married and have kids of their own.
‘I was the first one out of my family at the scene. Not a day goes by when I think if I were minutes earlier I could have stopped what happened.
‘There is, of course, sadness and sorrow, there’s also hate, anger and rage. Everywhere I go I’m haunted by the thought I could be with him if things had happened differently that day.’
Reading her own statement to the packed courtroom, Mr Kohli’s daughter Susan Kohli said her family are surrounded by ‘consistent sadness’ since he died.
She said: ‘They left my dad on his own, helpless and in pain. Losing dad in these cruel, violent and deeply shocking circumstances feels like our hearts have been pulled apart.
‘We can’t put into words the pain we feel every day – we have never felt hurt and sadness like this.
A separate clip from Leicestershire Police showed the teenagers running away from the scene
Susan Kohli, Bhim Kohli’s daughter, read a statement on the Leicester Crown Court steps after the verdicts in April, saying: ‘My dad was brutally and cruelly taken away from us’
Mr Kohli had Rocky for 15 years and walked the pet daily after tending to his allotment
‘My mum, a gentle human being, has found herself saying she would like the children subjected to the same treatment they gave her husband to see how they feel.’
She added: ‘My mum and I felt we needed to attend the trial each day to understand the evidence fully.
‘We tried to remain strong but, the truth is, inside we feel broken and it has been stressful listening to the enormity of what happened and what he was subjected to.’
Describing the moments she found her father injured on the ground in the park just yards from the family home, Ms Kohli said: ‘He was in so much pain, he was screaming out. It was horrendous and we have never seen him like this.
‘We knew he was very poorly and in severe pain, but we thought he would go to Leicester Royal Infirmary and be fine.
‘We never imagined he would never return home. We were later told the shocking news he was no longer able to take the medication that was keeping him alive.
‘He passed away before our eyes, surrounded by his family who were in floods of tears and disbelief.
‘Due to him being killed in these circumstances and being involved in a criminal investigation, dad was unable to donate his organs which were always his wishes. It pains me we were unable to meet his wishes.’
Mr Sandhu told the hearing that there was ‘deliberate humiliation’ of Mr Kohli when he was fatally attacked in the park.
Mr Kohli, pictured with his wife Satinder, died last year from the effects of a spinal cord injury
Bhim Kohli, 80, sustained fractured ribs and a broken neck in the attack in September last year
Mr Kohli’s wife Satinder lays a floral tribute to her late husband by the park last September
The prosecutor addressed the court and said: ‘The evidence as a whole, in our submission, demonstrates (the boy) pushed, punched and kicked Bhim Kohli and he did so out of anger.
‘The evidence we have cited also leads to the conclusion that in this case, death was caused in the course of an unlawful act which carried a high risk of death or grievous bodily harm which ought to have been obvious to (the boy).
‘There was deliberate humiliation of Bhim Kohli when (the boy) used violence in the presence of (the girl) and through (the girl’s) filming of that violence.
‘We submit (the boy) had a leading role. The evidence establishes (the boy) was clearly encouraged to do what he did.’
Defending the boy, who was 14 at the time he carried out the attack, barrister Balraj Bhatia KC said he was an ‘immature young boy’ but that he had shown genuine remorse for what he had done and had made ‘significant strides’ in bettering himself.
Mr Bhatia said: ‘He had no history or gripe with Mr Kohli, he wasn’t even aware of his existence before the incident. He never intended Mr Kohli to die – this has affected him.’
He said the injuries suffered by Mr Kohli – which the boy claimed during the trial were caused when he fell on top of the elderly dog walker – could have happened if he had fallen elsewhere.
Mr Kohli’s wife, Satinder Kaur, carries some of the condolence cards left by other mourners
He said: ‘Had Mr Kohli simply fallen in his allotment, because of his pre-existing conditions, that would be sufficient to cause death.
‘The injuries are consistent with the medical evidence that falling on top of Mr Kohli, which has always been the assertion as far as the boy is concerned, following a forceful push, would be consistent with those fractures to the ribs.’
Jeremy Benson KC, defending the girl who was aged 12 when Mr Kohli was killed, said she has shown positive signs for rehabilitation and there would be a ‘severe and harmful’ impact on her mental health if she was handed a custodial sentence.
Mr Benson told the court: ‘We submit that it was never the prosecution’s case that (the girl’s) intent was identical to (the boy’s). We submit that she had no intention to cause physical harm of any sort.
‘We submit she played a minor role. She used no violence herself. We say that there is no evidence that she used racist language.
‘She has demonstrated, between the date of the original arrest and her conviction, that she can remain in the community without posing a risk to others.
‘We submit that there is a clear and realistic prospect of rehabilitation. We submit that a custodial sentence would have a severe and harmful impact on (the girl), both in terms of the trauma to her and her mental health.’
Following the verdicts, police described the teenagers as a boy who ‘revelled in his reputation as a hard man’ and a girl ‘obsessed with violence’ – adding social media ‘played a part’ in the shocking attack, after three clips taken during the incident involving Mr Kohli were shown to jurors.
Flowers and a note left for Mr Kohli, which reads ‘To Bin, always a true and dearest friend’
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Sinski, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, the senior investigating officer in the case, told how as well as the three videos taken during the incident involving Bhim, other clips had been found on the girl’s phone that showed school children fighting.
He said: ‘The proliferation in the use of phones and social media messages features more and more in enquiries, and certainly with young people who now live their lives via phones.
‘The three videos on the phone show the female defendant wanted to film violence, and encouraged it, and chillingly when we looked at her phone there were numerous previous incidents where she filmed and encouraged violence, and the prosecution case was that was no coincidence and very much mirrored the attack on Mr Kohli.
‘The boy sent numerous messages after the incident, in part admitting to what he’d done, but again he tried to justify it.
‘He falsely said Mr Kohlu pulled a knife out on the girl – and this shows you how falsehoods can very quickly spread among youths and proliferate, when it’s not true.
‘The prosecution case is that he revelled in his reputation as a hard man, and his propensity to violence.
‘Witnesses had heard him bragging about what he’d done – and indeed the female defendant was heard by other park users and the wider community bragging about what they had done.
‘There was laughing from the group and this was all at the time an 80-year-old man was lying gravely injured and dying from his injuries
Flowers left at the scene at the entrance to Franklin Park where Mr Kohli was allegedly attacked
‘The boy did say he had anger management issues. He said that in own evidence and social media posts.
‘He had recently split up with his girlfriend and in some posts and messages he admitted taking his anger out on Mr Kohli.’
Mr Sinski described the boy as ‘a troubled young man, who went very quickly to unnecessary and extreme violence that killed an innocent man in a park very close to his home address’.
The detective said it was an ‘unusual’ case because of the ages of those involved, adding: ‘This has been of national significance, and very impactive on the local community. As a rule, elderly people aren’t attacked by children, but in this case they were.
‘The investigation team has taken no satisfaction in this inquiry. A much loved family man and a pillar of this community has lost his life.
‘His family are traumatised and devastated, and have lost all they loved in that man – and by children. And that is what shocked everyone to the core.
‘It was a needless, unnecessary incident that should never have occurred. A child offender of such age is extremely shocking.’
The officer claimed that while there was no evidence the boy had been involved in previous incidents with Mr Kohli, the girl had a ‘grudge’ against him because of an earlier verbal altercation involving one of her friends, and said a photo of the OAP was discovered on her phone taken exactly a week earlier.
Police at Franklin Park following the attack last September, after the area was cordoned off
Regarding the girl, Det Ch Insp Sinski said: ‘She pointed out Mr Kohli. If he hadn’t been pointed out, he would never have come to harm.
‘She encouraged the boy defendant in his assault and violence, She walked close to the boy defendant, she filmed them, he knew he was being filmed because he looked towards the camera at the time.
‘She laughed when he was assaulted, and repeatedly filmed sections of this incident. That girl chose to stay and encourage it when the others ran away for fear of what was going to happen.
‘What she did was wholly wrong and a very serious offence in its own right.
‘The prosecution case suggests it was not a coincidence they turned up at Franklin Park at the exact time they knew Mr Kohli walked his dog.
‘Young people do use phones, and they film things, but phones are to film happy times, not to film someone receiving a fatal assault. It was used cynically. It was a pattern of behaviour. We had seen that previously by looking at her phone.
‘This girl was obsessed with violence. She filmed violence. She encouraged violence. Because of her actions and the actions of the boy defendant, violence unfolded and Mr Kohli lost his life. Her actions were so cynical and calculated. It is right for a jury to hear them and determine.’
He said the boy had claimed to show remorse in a letter after Mr Kohli’s death, but the girl’s demeanour when she gave evidence was ‘to the contrary’.
He added: ‘This wasn’t an intimidated young girl. This was a girl who was very streetwise, very sure of herself, not in any way intimidated by the gravity of the charge she faced or the surroundings of the court. She was unnecessarily cocky and confident during her evidence.
‘Mr Kohli was enjoying his family. He was enjoying his retirement. He was enjoying his children, his wife, his grandchildren, his allotment and the community around him. He enjoyed the simple pleasures – walking his dog, the fresh air. He had a lot of life still to live.
[‘His family are quite rightly enraged that his life has been taken from him, and that they have lost him.’
