Girl denies taking photo to target man for attack

Bhim Kohli died the day after he was attacked while walking his dog near his home

A girl took a photograph of an 80-year-old man in a park a week before she filmed part of an attack in which it was alleged he was hit with a shoe and fatally injured, a court has been told.

Jurors heard the girl, aged 12 at the time, denied that she kept the picture of Bhim Kohli on her phone so she could "target him" and denied that she pointed him out on the day of the fatal attack.

Mr Kohli died the day after he was assaulted in Franklin Park, yards from his home in Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, on 1 September last year.

The girl, now 13, is on trial at Leicester Crown Court accused of Mr Kohli's manslaughter - a charge she denies.

A 15-year-old boy is accused of punching and kicking Mr Kohli after he was filmed slapping him in the face with his slider shoe.

He denies murdering Mr Kohli and an alternative count of manslaughter.

Neither defendant can be named because of their ages.

The female defendant was asked about why she had taken a picture of Mr Kohli in Franklin Park a week before he was attacked

Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC continued his cross-examination of the girl on Tuesday.

The jury was told the photograph of Mr Kohli was taken at 18:24 GMT on 24 August in Franklin Park, where he was injured the following week.

Mr Sandhu said: "It shows Bhim Kohli has twigs in his hand or branches, quite a few of them. It looks as if he's using both his hands to hold them and he's walking. Who took that photograph?"

The girl replied: "I think it may have been me."

Mr Sandhu asked: "Once you had that photograph on your phone it stayed there - why did you keep a photograph of Bhim Kohli on your phone?"

The girl replied: "No idea."

The prosecutor asked: "What were you going to do with the photograph of Bhim Kohli? Did you keep it so you could show it to others? Did you keep it so you could tell others to look out for Bhim Kohli?"

The defendant said: "I don't think so, no."

Mr Sandhu asked: "Did you have it so you could target him with others? So that others and you could have a go at him when you next saw him?"

The girl replied: "No."

Flowers were left near the park after Mr Kohli died

The prosecutor asked the girl about the day of the fatal attack and said: "You saw Bhim Kohli didn't you? When you saw him you recognised him, didn't you?"

The girl replied: "Yes."

She had previously told the court she saw Mr Kohli hitting her friend with a "couple of sticks" on one occasion before the fatal attack, and a week or two before he died, she said Mr Kohli swore at the girl when other children were throwing apples at him.

Mr Sandhu said to the defendant: "You were the one who had the photograph of Mr Kohli, you were the one who pointed him out to [the boy defendant] weren't you? It's because you pointed him out to [the boy] that he walked up to Mr Kohli. That's what happened, isn't it?"

The girl replied: "No."

Mr Sandhu said: "Did you know Mr Kohli would be at the park at that time in the evening walking his dog?"

The girl replied: "No."

The barrister continued: "On 1 September when you walked into the park [the boy] was not wearing his balaclava.

"Four minutes and 40 seconds later, [the boy] is wearing his balaclava, we know that because of the clip you have taken on your phone.

"Did he put his balaclava on after you had pointed Mr Kohli out?"

The girl said: "I did not point Mr Kohli out and I don't know. I can't remember."

Mr Sandhu said: "Mr Kohli was on his hands and knees because of something [the boy] had done.

"You thought there was more violence to come and that is why you started recording isn't it? That's what you do, isn't it, you record violence."

She denied that she knew the boy was going to be violent towards Mr Kohli.

The prosecutor asked the girl if she had been egging the boy on as she recorded him and Mr Kohli in the park.

She said she had not.

He asked her why she had moved videos she had taken of Mr Kohli into a section of Snapchat where only she could see them.

She said she was concerned someone else would log into her account and see them and that it was not because she was trying to hide them.

She said she had not initially told police about them because she forgot they were there.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA Media