OAP killed in park assault ‘slapped with shoe by masked child’, court told

A pensioner who died after an alleged attack in a park was “slapped” in the face with a shoe by a balaclava-clad boy while on his knees in an act of “pure violence”, while a girl filmed the incident and laughed, a court has heard.

Jurors were told that two children, a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, killed Bhim Kohli, 80, yards from his home after using racist taunts towards him while he was walking his dog.

Both youths, who cannot be named because of their ages, deny their part in fatally injuring the pensioner in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on September 1 last year.

The boy is charged with Mr Kohli’s murder and manslaughter, while the girl is charged with his manslaughter.

Opening the Crown’s case at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday, 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.

“(The boy and girl) used racist taunts against Mr Kohli, (the boy) used violence against Mr Kohli, (the girl) encouraged (the boy) to use violence against Mr Kohli.

“The prosecution say that as a result of causing those injuries, (the boy) is guilty of murdering Bhim Kohli and that (the girl) who encouraged the causing of those injuries is guilty of manslaughter.”

The jury were told that Mr Kohli died later from his injuries in hospital.

Mr Sandhu told the court that the boy and girl had spent that afternoon together at Braunstone Park in Leicester before going to the boy’s home where he changed his clothes and wore black sliders, which the barrister said were used in the attack.

He told the court that CCTV shows Mr Kohli walking to Franklin Park at 6.18pm that evening, followed by the defendants, who were accompanied by three other children, three minutes later.

The prosecutor told the court that the male defendant was carrying a balaclava as the group of five walked to the park, but “it would not be long” before he put it on.

The girl first spotted Mr Kohli, the court heard, and told the group that he had tried to hit one of the boy defendant’s friends with a stick.

The court heard that the boy then walked up to Mr Kohli, followed by the girl, but the other three children did not approach the pensioner and two of them left the park.

Jurors were told that one of the friends who ran away told police they did so because they thought the boy defendant was “either going to start on him or be mean”.

Mr Sandhu said: “(The girl) remained with (the boy). She remained with him in order to support him in what was about to happen.

“Within four minutes and 40 seconds, he had put his balaclava on. He had put his balaclava on in preparation for the violence he was going to use against Mr Kohli.”

Mr Sandhu told the court that Mr Kohli was “on his knees” when the boy slapped him round the face with the slider shoe, an incident the girl filmed as she laughed.

The footage of the assault was shown to the jury.

Mr Sandhu said: “You heard that slap, you heard the slider making contact with Mr Kohli’s face. There was nothing for (the boy) to fear from an 80-year-old man who was on his knees. It was pure violence used by (the boy), pure violence encouraged by (the girl).

“(The girl) made a noise. That noise was her laughing. She laughed as (the boy) assaulted Mr Kohli.”

The trial, which is expected to last six to eight weeks, continues.