Parallel student murders expose ‘two-tier’ fallacy

THE murder of Henry Nowak is first and foremost a searing human tragedy. What happened to Henry is the worst nightmare for any parent who has dropped their child off to start a new life at university.

The perpetrator had involved his brother and mother in removing the weapon. He lied about being the victim of a racist attack because he was Sikh and misled police into treating the murder victim as the criminal at the scene. Harrowing police body camera footage shows officers initially treating Henry as the perpetrator before realising he was telling the truth about having been stabbed. The pathologist reported that it was already too late to save him, but the consequence was that Henry did not die with dignity.

So the judge rightly told Vickrum Digwa that his vicious crime and evil lies had “stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country” – adding this to the many aggravating features that contributed to the 21-year minimum term before his life sentence can be reviewed. The judge also told Digwa he had made many Sikhs more concerned about their safety.

Henry’s father Mark, who had spoken powerfully outside court about the need for a “full, fearless and transparent” investigation, made a further appeal. “We do not want his death used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to make our streets safer for everyone. This is not a case about Sikhism. This is not a case about racism. This is a case about murder,” he said.

Reform leader Nigel Farage instead called for “pure cold rage”, finding in this tragedy “proof that we’re living in a twotier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities”. He said there was a need to roll back laws and policies against discrimination.

Clive Efford, the MP for Eltham for 30 years, where Stephen Lawrence was killed in 1993, told the House of Commons that nothing in the inquiry into the lessons of that case – involving a black victim and a black family – should prevent the proper policing of crimes involving Asian, black or white perpetrators. Nor should it prevent proper care being given to Asian, black or white victims, if the police are properly trained.

The police’s anti-racism action plan contains important commitments and, while it risks being undermined by some performative rhetoric, many are sceptical that these soundbites have significantly changed the culture of policing the streets. The core goals of fair treatment for all – and rooting out unfair barriers for anyone – should be reasserted in both principle and practice.

The Nowak family are seeking scrutiny of how religious exemptions for carrying ceremonial knives operate. But they hope to work with Sikh groups to explore safeguards. It is common sense to see that the exemption allowing Sikhs not to wear motorcycle helmets – granted half a century ago, where the risk is primarily to the individual – raises different issues from exemptions for carrying ceremonial knives, where the issue is one of public safety.

Digwa wore a small ceremonial knife (kirpan) beneath his clothes, but was convicted because the murder weapon was an illegal blade. It is surely sensible, after such a tragedy, to review the laws and the guidance in place – whether the issue is about what is currently permitted, or how the laws are understood and communicated. This kind of dialogue, which does not duck contested issues, but seeks constructive solutions, is the antidote to the politics of blind rage.

Even as the polarised and racialised public argument raged, construction worker Chas Corrigan was being sentenced to life imprisonment in Cambridge, with a minimum term of 22 years, for the brutal stabbing of Mohammad Algasim, a young student from Saudi Arabia who had come to the city to study. It was a senseless, drink and drug-fuelled murder after Corrigan had taken to routinely carrying a knife on the streets. Both murderers were convicted of carrying illegal blades.

Nothing, the judge in this case noted, could undo the devastating impact on Algasim’s family and friends of this fatal and cruel act of violence, though the life sentence sought to provide some measure of justice. Corrigan’s father was also convicted of trying to hide the evidence.

The murders of Nowak and Algasim had far too much in common, in the senseless loss of two promising young lives. The uncanny echoes across these parallel tragedies paint a portrait of a one-tier justice system that strives for consistency when victims and villains have different characteristics.

The media and the politicians can often be more selective about which cases frame the public discourse.