Teenage boy jailed for stabbing Afghan refugee to death in London, after being sentenced for carrying a knife that morning
10 March 2023, 15:41 | Updated: 10 March 2023, 15:55
A teenage boy has been jailed for manslaughter after stabbing an Afghan refugee to death, the same day as he was sentenced for carrying a knife, and hours before assaulting a McDonald's worker.
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The 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, was given ten years and eight months in prison at the Old Bailey on Friday for killing Hazrat Wali, who had fled Afghanistan for a safer life in the UK.
The court heard how Mr Wali, 18, suffered a ten-inch deep stab wound at Craneford Way Playing Fields in Twickenham in south-west London, on the afternoon of October 12, 2021.
Mr Wali, who had hoped to become an engineer, was sitting in the park with a female friend, called Mariam Ahmadazai, when a group of six teenagers, including the attacker, came up to them.
One of the girls in the group said that the pair "looked nice together". The attacker, who was 16 at that point, then started swearing at Mr Wali and pushed him with his chest.
Mr Wali rang for help from a male friend and told him he was going to be in a fight.
The attacker then pulled out a 20cm black knife with zigzag-shaped indentations on the blade.
After more exchanges, he stabbed Mr Wali in the right side of his body, causing a 10cm deep wound and massive blood loss.
Mr Wali grabbed the defendant's jacket and asked: "Why did you stab me?" Players in a rugby match between Richmond School and Hampton School watched as he picked up a branch before collapsing.
The attacker had earlier been sentenced for carrying a knife in a shopping centre, and later that day assaulted a McDonald's worker.
He admitted wielding a knife within hours of leaving a magistrates' court, but denied he intended to cause student and aspiring cricketer Mr Wali really serious harm.
A jury at the Old Bailey found him not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser alternative charge of manslaughter.
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Mohamed Ashuk, Mr Wali's brother said his brother had been "hoping for a safer life in London" than he had in his home country.
Mr Ashuk said: "I raised him as my own child. It feels like I have lost my whole world. My children are scared to leave the house. Our lives have been turned upside down.
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"Hazrat left Afghanistan for his safety. He was hoping for a safer life in London. He was just settling in to life in college and enjoying his life in London. He didn’t like to see people unhappy.
"My daughter stopped going to school because of her fear of being stabbed. She still can’t sleep alone in bed.
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"Hazrat’s twin brother joined us from Afghanistan in July. He was traumatised when he found out he’d been killed. He thought he’d be reunited with his brother when he got here.
Sentencing the killer, the judge said: "This senseless loss of life was caused by your decision to carry a knife. No doubt the knife you were carrying gave you a sense of confidence. Hazrat’s fate was sealed when you decide to use your knife.
"You were sentenced that morning for carrying a knife previously. That was the clearest warning that you must not carry a knife but you ignored that warning.
"This was a deliberate decision to carry a fearsome weapon, it was not just grabbing a kitchen knife."
Stabbing Mr Hazrat was not the end of the defendant's offences. Under cross-examination, the youth admitted attacking another inmate while on remand at Feltham Young Offender Institution a month after the killing.
In a phone call, he had bragged that he and another inmate had targeted the victim in the showers.
He said: "Me and (the other youth) got into a scrap with some yout' from Luton. We f***** him up, he's still in hospital."
On Boxing Day 2021, he came up behind a fellow inmate and punched him to the back of the head, and then took part in the melee that followed.
He pleaded guilty to affray and was sentenced to a four-month detention and training order, the court was told.
