Elderly man ‘hit boy to legs with shoe’ in park, murder trial told
Two children are on trial at Leicester Crown Court accused of killing Bhim Kohli, 80, in a park.
An elderly dog walker who was fatally injured in a park hit a boy on the back of his legs with a shoe and raised his arms in a “slapping motion” at a girl, a murder trial has heard.
Jurors were told that Bhim Kohli, 80, swore at a 13-year-old girl and hit her friend “with a couple of sticks” on other occasions before he was allegedly killed by the two children.
Leicester Crown Court heard Mr Kohli walked his dog just yards to Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on September 1 where he sustained fractured ribs and a spinal cord injury and died the following day.
The 15-year-old boy denies murdering Mr Kohli by kicking and punching him and denies an alternative count of manslaughter.
The girl, who filmed part of the attack while laughing, has denied his manslaughter, the court heard. Neither child can be named because of their ages.
The court heard that five children, including both defendants, entered the park that Sunday evening three minutes after Mr Kohli arrived.
The girl , wearing a black jumper and trousers, gave evidence in the witness box on Monday and told the court she saw Mr Kohli hit the boy to the back of the legs with his slider shoe.
The girl told the court: “We were having conversations and then I think it was (a friend or another friend) mentioned Mr Kohli. They said something along the lines of ‘There’s that man who hit (a different boy) with a stick’.
“(The male defendant) went over to the man. I was still on the bench.
“I saw something happen with Mr Kohli and (the boy). I saw Mr Kohli get to his knees on the floor to get (the boy’s) slider.
“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 of Mr Kohli being hit with the shoe and said: “When (the boy) had hit Mr Kohli round the head with the slider I found it 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 said that after this, Mr Kohli came within about two to three feet of her.
Asked how she felt as the elderly man had come towards her, she said: “Not scared but like a little bit worried I would say.”
She told the jury: “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.”
Asked why she took a video clip of Mr Kohli lying motionless on the floor, the girl replied: “No idea.”
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”.
The girl denied bragging or showing off about what she and the boy had done after the group of friends then went to Braunstone Park, about a mile from where the alleged attack took place.
She told the court there was another occasion a week or two before Mr Kohli was fatally injured that a group of young people were throwing apples at Mr Kohli in Franklin Park while he was walking his dog.
She told the court: “He said something along the lines of ‘Why are you chucking apples at me?’ and calling us bitches.”
The defendant denied that she had thrown any apples at Mr Kohli.
On another occasion, the girl told the court she saw Mr Kohli “hitting (her) friend … with a couple of sticks.”
The court was shown other videos recovered from the girl’s phone showing children fighting each other and another where an unidentified victim was called a “Paki” and had something thrown over him.
The trial continues.
