Boy 'planned to flee city' after fatal park attack

Bhim Kohli died after an attack in Franklin Park in September 2024

A boy charged with the murder of an 80-year-old man who died after being attacked in a park told friends he needed to flee "to a different city", a court has heard.

Bhim Kohli died the day after being assaulted while walking his dog Rocky in Franklin Park, yards from his home in Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, on 1 September last year.

A 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, who cannot be named because of their ages, are on trial at Leicester Crown Court accused of killing him.

On Wednesday, the court head evidence from a teenage friend of the male defendant, who said he and a friend met him the day after the attack in a churchyard, where the defendant appeared "overwhelmed".

"He was kind of shaking," the witness said in his police interview, which was played to the jury.

"He told me about it. He said that he was walking with his mates and he saw that man trying to do something to a young girl.

"When he saw that, he said he got really angry and started battering him."

The defendant, then aged 14, told the pair he needed to "leave the area".

The witness said: "I think he was planning to go somewhere far, like a different city."

Both defendants deny the charges against them

Another teenage boy, who cannot be named, told the court he had been with the defendant and other friends earlier that day.

He said after hearing there were "10 police cars" outside his home, the defendant had said he "put an 80-year-old in intensive care" and "basically killed him".

The witness said he told the defendant: "You're crazy bro."

He replied: "I know but it is what it is."

Bag favour

The court was told how a further witness, who had seen the defendant on the day of the attack, had taken a bag for him.

The teenage boy, jurors heard, had been "chilling" with two friends when the defendant approached them, shortly after the incident in Franklin Park.

In interview, he told police the defendant said he thought he had "killed a man" and the witness agreed to take a "fake Gucci man bag" belonging to the defendant as he was "the nice one" in the friendship group.

He said when he looked the bag, it contained sunglasses, a bottle of vape juice, and a black balaclava with grey stitching.

He took it to his home but his family questioned what he was doing and he returned it to the defendant.

The male defendant is accused of both murder and manslaughter, while the female defendant is charged with manslaughter. Both deny the charges.

The trial continues.