The continuing drip release of court documents relating to the murder of Henry Nowak has revealed that some of the British teen’s final words to his killer were “I’m not racist”.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was convicted of murdering student Henry Nowak in May with a ceremonial Sikh knife in Southampton in December of last year. When police reached the scene, Digwa falsely told officers that he had been racially abused by Nowak, prompting officers to arrest and handcuff the dying teen as he was bleeding out on the ground, ignoring his pleas that he had been stabbed and could not breathe.
According to court transcripts obtained by the Sunday Times, a nearby resident told the court that he had heard multiple men “arguing loudly” outside his window, and that one of the men, later identified as Nowak, had said “I’m not racist”, as he lay dying on the ground.
Prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg KC told the jury that as Digwa’s brother, Gurpreet, had phoned police and claimed that Nowak had “verbally attacked my brother racially,” Nowak could be heard in the background of the emergency call pleading: “No, I didn’t”.
The court heard further evidence against the claim that Nowak had been racist, with a former girlfriend, who is half Jamaican and Irish, telling the court that Nowak had been “very proud of my heritage” and that her ethnicity had “never been an issue” for him.
Another resident who witnessed some of the incident told the court that he had heard “some shouting, it sounded like a foreign language” that started to get “more and more extreme”.
“After about two or three minutes, I went to the window as it was getting worse and the tone was getting scary,” the witness said. “I felt scared. The tone gave me a pit in my stomach. It was really, really aggressive like a carnal, animalistic tone.”
He then claimed to have heard someone shout: “This white guy racially attacked us… You’re not getting away, big man.” Then he said that he either heard “I’m going to slash you” or “I am going to smash you.”
The witness said he had seen “four to six” men wearing puffer jackets on the street at the time, while other witnesses had only reported seeing Digwa and three of his relatives, suggesting that more people may have been involved in the incident than was conclusively proven in court.
After this, a man suspected to be Nowak was heard by the witness saying: “I am going to die. I am going to die,” before another replied: “You’re not going to die, you’re fine.”
When police officers arrived on the scene, they were incredulous towards the dying teen, while readily accepting the false claims of racism made by Digwa and his family. Despite Nowak telling officers that he could not breathe and had been stabbed, one officer infamously replied: “I don’t think you have, mate” before proceeding to handcuff him as he bled out. Conversely, police did not handcuff Digwa, even when they brought him to their station for questioning.
While Vickrum Digwa was convicted in May and handed down a so-called “life sentence” of at least 21 years in prison over the murder of Henry Nowak, it remains to be seen to what extent his family will be punished for their alleged involvement.
Vickrum’s mother, Kiran Kaur, was previously found guilty of being complicit in attempting to cover up her son’s crime by removing the murder weapon from the scene and hiding it in their family home. She is currently awaiting sentencing.
Last week, Digwa, his brother, and his father all appeared before Southampton Magistrates’ Court on weapons charges. The three Sikh men all pleaded not guilty to the possession of over swords, machetes, flick knives, knuckledusters, a baton, and a traditional Japanese manriki-gusari chain weapon. They are due to stand trial in September of next year. Both Digwa’s father and brother were released on unconditional bail during the interim.
In addition to further raising the issue of two-tier policing, with many accusing the police force of being beholden to woke ideology in which accusations of racism are elevated to paramount importance, the case has also sparked a national debate surrounding the religious exemptions given to religious minorities like Sikhs, who claim a warrior tradition, to carry ceremonial knives like the one used to kill Nowak, while the average Briton is prohibited from carrying such knives or swords.
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