Boy's sentence for killing man, 80, to be reviewed

Bhim Kohli, 80, died the day after he was attacked in the park

The sentence given to a 15-year-old boy who racially abused and killed an 80-year-old man in Leicestershire will be reviewed.

Bhim Kohli died in hospital a day after being attacked while walking his dog Rocky at Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, in September.

The boy was sentenced to seven years in custody, while a 13-year-old girl who filmed and encouraged the attack was given a youth rehabilitation order of three years and made subject to a six-month curfew. Both were convicted of manslaughter.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has referred the case under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

The AGO confirmed it had not referred the girl's sentence to the Court of Appeal.

Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC said Mr Kohli was subjected to a "seven-and-a-half minute period of continuing aggression" at the park.

The boy racially abused Mr Kohli, attacked him and slapped him in the face with a slider shoe, while the girl laughed as she filmed it on her phone.

The attack left Mr Kohli with three broken ribs and other fractures, but Mr Sandhu KC said the fatal injury was to his spinal cord, caused by a spine fracture.

Following sentencing, Mr Kohli's daughter Susan Kohli said she felt angry and disappointed the punishments did not match the severity of the crime.

Mr Kohli was found injured and in pain in the park by members of his family

An AGO spokesperson said: "The Solicitor General, Lucy Rigby KC MP, was appalled by this violent, cowardly attack on an innocent man.

"She wishes to express her deepest sympathies to Bhim Kohli's friends and family at this difficult time.

"After undertaking a detailed review of the case, the Solicitor General concluded the sentence of the 15-year-old boy could be referred to the Court of Appeal.

"The court will determine if the sentence is increased or not."

The AGO referral follows a call by Mid Leicestershire MP Peter Bedford and Alberto Costa, MP for South Leicestershire, for both the sentence of the boy and girl to be increased.

In a letter to the MPs, sent on Friday, Rigby said both offenders' actions were "appalling", but while the boy's sentence met the threshold for a review, the girl's did not.

She said the sentencing judge had followed guidelines that made custody "a last resort" for offenders aged 14 or under.

Rigby said she appreciated sentences were not always perceived to be adequate by the victims of crime, but said she had concluded it was unlikely the Court of Appeal would increase the girl's sentence if asked to review it.

Bedford said: "Whilst I welcome the referral of the male's sentence as being unduly lenient, I am shocked that the female's sentence, which is non-custodial in nature, has not been referred for reconsideration."

The MP said he was working with Mr Kohli's family on a campaign for greater parental responsibility for those youngsters convicted of serious criminal offices.

Susan Kohli said the boy's sentence was not long enough

After the sentencing, Mrs Kohli told the BBC: "We are having so many incidents and crime reports that involve youngsters and they know that because they're youngsters, they're not going to serve the full weight of the law, because it's half an adult sentence.

"But you choose to do an adult crime, so why not be punished accordingly? Yes, the boy has been sentenced to seven years, on good behaviour three and a half years - he's served nine months of that already.

"He's going to be out in two years and nine months for taking my dad's life - it's just unanswerable.

"It needs to change, and I'm hoping we're able to try and get that change to hold the young offenders accountable for what they do."