Man Jailed for Minimum 23 Years for Murdering Syrian Boy in Huddersfield

A man has been given a life sentence with a minimum period of 23 years for the killing of a teenage Syrian asylum seeker after the boy passed his partner in downtown Huddersfield.

Court Learns Particulars of Fatal Altercation

The court in Leeds learned how the accused, 20, knifed the teenager, aged 16, soon after the young man walked by the defendant's partner. He was found guilty of the killing on the fourth day of the week.

Ahmad, who had left war-torn Homs after being wounded in a bombing, had been living in the local community for only a short period when he met the defendant, who had been for a jobcentre appointment that day and was intending to purchase beauty product with his female companion.

Particulars of the Attack

The trial learned that Franco – who had consumed weed, a stimulant drug, diazepam, an anesthetic and a painkiller – took “a minor offense” to Ahmad “harmlessly” going past his companion in the public space.

Security camera video showed Franco making a remark to the victim, and summoning him after a quick argument. As the boy walked over, Franco opened the blade on a flick knife he was concealing in his trousers and drove it into the boy’s neck.

Trial Outcome and Judgment

Franco denied murder, but was found guilty by a panel of jurors who deliberated for just over three hours. He confessed to carrying a blade in a public space.

While sentencing the defendant on the fifth day of the week, the court judge said that upon spotting the teenager, the defendant “marked him as a victim and drew him to within your proximity to assault before ending his life”. He said the defendant's assertion to have seen a weapon in the victim's belt was “false”.

Crowson said of Ahmad that “it is a testament to the healthcare workers working to keep him alive and his will to live he even made it to the hospital alive, but in fact his injuries were unsurvivable”.

Relatives Reaction and Message

Presenting a declaration written by Ahmad’s uncle the family member, with input from his parents, the prosecutor told the court that the boy's dad had had a heart episode upon hearing the news of his boy's killing, necessitating medical intervention.

“Words cannot capture the effect of their heinous crime and the impact it had over everyone,” the statement read. “The victim's mother still weeps over his belongings as they remind her of him.”

Ghazwan, who said the boy was dear to him and he felt remorseful he could not protect him, went on to explain that the teenager had thought he had found “a safe haven and the realization of hopes” in Britain, but instead was “cruelly taken away by the unnecessary and sudden attack”.

“In my role as his uncle, I will always bear the shame that Ahmad had traveled to England, and I could not ensure his safety,” he said in a message after the sentencing. “Our beloved boy we care for you, we long for you and we will continue always.”

History of the Victim

The proceedings was told the teenager had journeyed for a quarter of a year to get to England from the Middle East, staying at a asylum seeker facility for teenagers in a city in Wales and going to school in the local college before arriving in West Yorkshire. The teenager had dreamed of becoming a physician, inspired partially by a hope to care for his mom, who was affected by a long-term health problem.