Highlights
- His mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was convicted of assisting an offender by removing the knife
- Digwa filmed the dying student rather than calling for help
- Police referred their own response to the independent watchdog
A MAN who stabbed a university student to death and then filmed him dying in a Southampton street has been convicted of murder, after a jury rejected his claim that he acted in self-defence following a racist attack.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, of St Deny's Road, Southampton, was found guilty at Southampton Crown Court on Thursday (28) of murdering Henry Nowak, 18, a first-year student at the University of Southampton from Chafford Hundred in Essex.
Digwa was also convicted of carrying a knife in a public place. His mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, of the same address, was found guilty of assisting an offender after removing the knife from the scene. The verdict came after a two-and-a-half-week trial.
Henry was walking back to his accommodation from a night out with friends on December 3 when Digwa stabbed him five times on Belmont Road in Portswood.
A court heard he suffered serious internal bleeding from a chest wound that was difficult to locate, and was pronounced dead in the early hours of December 4. Rather than calling for help, Digwa filmed Henry as he sat on the pavement. Kaur then arrived and took away the knife her son had used.
When police were called to the scene, Digwa's brother made the 999 call — with Digwa audible in the background — and denied any weapons had been used.
When officers arrived, Digwa complained of a swollen eye and insisted he had not used a knife. Because of the false account given at the scene, officers initially handcuffed Henry and told him he was under arrest.
Within three minutes, however, his condition made the true picture clear. The handcuffs were removed, an ambulance was called, and officers began CPR. A pathologist told the court that nothing the officers could have done that night would have saved Henry's life.
Racism claim
Digwa told the jury he had acted in self-defence after Henry used a racist insult, punched him and knocked his turban off. He said he carried the knife — a kirpan, a ceremonial blade worn by observant Sikhs — as part of his faith.
The prosecution rejected his account in full. Nicholas Lobbenberg KC, prosecuting, told jurors the racial abuse allegation was a "wicked lie".
"It is not a case about Sikhism, it is not a case about racism — it's a case about murder," he said.
Lobbenberg also told the court Digwa was "a man who likes weapons" who had been "training with weapons since he was 12" and had searched for them online.
Henry NowakHampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary
The defence argued that the religious significance of the kirpan had been underplayed. Jeremy Wainwright KC, representing Digwa, said his client had "carried that knife in the same way that he does every day in his life, as part of his religion."
He said Digwa had reacted while "under attack, in pain and scared".
Mark Watson KC, representing Kaur, said she had been distressed and uninformed when she moved the knife, and had placed it among religious objects at home.
"The Crown say she must have known," he said. "Assumption has no place in this courtroom."
Police response
Temporary deputy chief constable Robert France of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, said, "First and foremost, this is an unspeakable tragedy, and I cannot begin to imagine what Henry's family have suffered."
He acknowledged that Henry had been handcuffed in the moments before he lost consciousness, and said: "I am deeply sorry that Henry could not be saved."
He added, "The facts heard in court should leave no doubt in anyone's mind who was lying to officers that night. During the 999 call, when officers first arrived at the scene, and even when Henry's condition was deteriorating quickly, his killer continued to divert the blame, obstruct our enquiries and never admit the serious harm which had been done."
France said the force had referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct the following day, and was committed to acting on its findings."
Digwa and Kaur will be sentenced at a later date.
