A Sikh man has been found guilty of murdering a university student with a ceremonial knife, before tricking police into arresting the dying man by accusing him of racism.
Finance student Henry Nowak, 18, was on his way home from a night out when he was attacked by stranger Vickrum Digwa, 23, with the eight-inch ‘Shastar’ blade.
Digwa was caught on camera saying ‘I am a bad man’ before the fatal attack.
He was on trial accused of murder alongside his mother Kiran Kaur, 53, who was charged with assisting an offender by stashing the murder weapon.
Today a jury at Southampton Crown Court found Digwa guilty of murder and his mother guilty of assisting an offender.
Digwa was said to have used racism as his ‘trump card’, by accusing Mr Nowak of racial abuse when police officers arrived so they would arrest the wrong man.
This was a ‘wicked lie about a dying man’, prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg KC said.
Soon after he was handcuffed, the University of Southampton student collapsed in the street and died from his injuries – drowning in his own blood.
Following the verdict, Hampshire Police apologised for handcuffing the mortally wounded teenager.
Deputy chief constable Robert France told the Daily Mail: ‘This case is an absolute tragedy. I’m sorry that Henry’s life couldn’t be saved that night, and I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested.
‘He was the victim.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticised the police’s actions, saying: ‘It is shameful that the police handcuffed Henry as he lay dying, especially as he told them he had been stabbed.
‘The police seemed more interested in cuffing someone accused of making a racist comment than in saving a dying man. They believed his attacker’s allegations of racism without critical assessment.
‘Henry’s last words were “I can’t breathe.” If he had been an ethnic minority there would probably be protests and riots by now.’
Reform MP Robert Jenrick has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood about the case, urging her to ensure the conduct of officers at the scene is fully investigated.
‘There are so many questions around this tragic death that require answers,’ his letter said.
‘So far this case has been met with stony silence from the Prime Minister and the rest of your colleagues.
‘This is in marked contrast to how they responded to other incidents involving deaths involving the police, both in the UK and abroad. It is high time you found your voices and did the right thing.’
Both Mr Philp and Mr Jenrick have called for police to release the body-worn video footage of the arrest, in the interests of transparency.
The police blunder caused outrage on social media during the trial, with tech billionaire Elon Musk offering to fund a private prosecution against the police.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is now investigating the circumstances of Mr Nowak’s wrongful arrest.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, has been found guilty of murdering student Henry Nowak, 18, with an eight-inch ceremonial blade
Henry was a finance student at the University of Southampton and was described as ‘kind and talented’ by his family
Reform MP Robert Jenrick has written to the home secretary expressing his concerns about the arrest of Henry while he was fatally injured
The trial heard Mr Nowak was in his first term studying accountancy and finance at the University of Southampton when he went for a night out in the city on December 3, 2023 with friends from his football team.
The teenager went home at around 11pm having ‘drunk less than the legal limit to drive’.
Jurors were told he was speaking to friends on Snapchat when he came across Digwa, who was ‘carrying an extremely large knife in a sheath openly displayed over his clothing’.
Prosecutors said Digwa was ‘skilled’ with blades – having trained with weapons since he was 12 – and allegedly stabbed Mr Nowak three times in the front and three times in the back during a street confrontation.
The prosecutor said a video of the incident was found on Mr Nowak’s phone which was discovered in Digwa’s pocket.
In the video, played to the jury, Mr Nowak can be heard saying ‘Hello car’ and singing to himself before yawning, with the footage then cutting to show Digwa walking away from him.
Mr Nowak is then heard saying: ‘Innit bad man, what bad man. You’re a bad man, say you’re a bad man, go on.’
Digwa replied, ‘I am a bad man’, to which Mr Nowak replied: ‘Are you a b…’, before the footage cuts off.
Mr Lobbenberg said the defendant’s father and brother went to the scene shortly afterwards along with his mother, who was captured on video footage taking the knife back to their family home.
Digwa was said to have a fixation with weapons, choosing ‘to sleep in his bedroom with an arsenal of weapons’ and spoke about the Kirpan – a type of ceremonial dagger carried by Sikhs with which he allegedly killed Mr Nowak – in ‘loving terms’.
In the UK Sikhs are legally permitted to carry a Kirpan knife in public as it is protected under religious exemption laws.
However, Digwa was found to have a small Kirpan around his neck that fulfilled his religious obligation and the ‘Shastar’ blade he carried on him was much larger – around eight inches.
Mr Lobbenberg said of Digwa in his closing speech: ‘He wasn’t at a temple, he had been helping with his brother’s work for Deliveroo.
‘This is a man who chooses to sleep in his bedroom with an arsenal of weapons.
‘This is a man who likes weapons. You know he searches for them on his phone.
‘He describes the murder weapon in loving terms.
Digwa used racism as his ‘trump card’, accusing Henry of racial abuse when police officers arrived so they would arrest the wrong man
Digwa’s mother Kiran Kaur, 53, was found guilty of assisting an offender by stashing the murder weapon
‘You might think that rather odd, given what he did with that knife on that night.
‘Most importantly, he knows how to use weapons. He told you he has been training with weapons since he was 12.’
Mr Lobbenberg said that Digwa had lied about Mr Nowak being drunk that night and he was actually under the legal limit of alcohol to drive.
He said: ‘The biggest lie, ladies and gentlemen, is why he drew his knife. He told you from that witness box, Henry Nowak said he was going to kill me. He was going to f*** me up.
‘We suggest that was never said. You can be sure it was never said because why, if it had been said, would you not tell the 999 operator the most important thing as to why you acted.
‘He didn’t tell the police at the scene who were asking. He didn’t tell his brother when he was saying what happened.
‘If this was in the forefront of his mind, seared into his memory, why wouldn’t you tell someone?
‘Instead, he didn’t even put the threat to kill in his defence case statement.
‘It came from him for the first time in the witness box.’
Mr Lobbenberg said that there was a stream of lies from Digwa starting from the minutes after the incident.
He said: ‘We say this, “drunk” is a lie, “going to kill me” is a lie and we say “P***” is a lie. The consequence and purpose of these lies is significant.
‘Why he tells them is he is seeking to hide what he has done.
‘And racism was his trump card to try to make sure what he had done was lawful.
‘We say that was a wicked lie about a dying man and it is a wicked lie about a dead man to you now.’
Mr Lobbenberg said that Mr Nowak was an ‘unarmed young man with a phone’.
The prosecutor said: ‘This is not a case about Sikhism. This is not a case about racism. This is a case about murder.’
