Summary

  • A 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl have been sentenced for Bhim Kohli's manslaughter

  • The 80-year-old was attacked while walking his dog in Franklin Park in Leicestershire in September

  • The boy was sentenced to seven years in custody - the girl was not sent to custody, but was given a three-year rehabilitation order and a six-month curfew

  • The teenagers were found guilty following a trial earlier this year - they legally cannot be named because of their ages

  • A prosecutor said Mr Kohli was slapped with a slider shoe and was racially abused during the attack, although the judge said the attack was not due to race

  • After the sentencing, Mr Kohli's daughter, Susan, says more visible police patrols could have prevented her father's death

  • Warning: There are distressing details on this page

'We don't want any other family to endure this pain', Bhim Kohli's daughter says

Live Reporting

Edited by Gavin Bevis with Dan Martin, Katie Thompson, and Navtej Johal reporting from court. Warning - this page contains distressing details.

  1. Why haven't Mr Kohli's killers been named?

    Dan Martin
    BBC News, Leicester

    The boy and the girl were 14 and 12 respectively at the time of the attack on Mr Kohli.

    Under the law, anyone under the age of 18, who is charged with a crime, is automatically given the protection of anonymity because of their age.

    This meant they could not be named during the coverage of the trial.

    The steps of a red brick court building

    Last month, trial judge Mr Justice Turner heard an application from the media to lift the pair's anonymity when they are sentenced.

    However he ruled the automatic legal protection should remain in place.

  2. Who was Bhim Kohli?

    Dan Martin
    BBC News, Leicester

    Bhim Kohli was a retired businessman who Leicestershire Police described as a “much-loved loved family man” and “a pillar of the community".

    Mr Kohli’s daughter, Susan Kohli, said he was a “devoted life partner” to his wife Satinder for 55 years.

    The family had lived in Bramble Way, near where he was fatally attacked, for 40 years.

    An older man with a beard smiles as he stands by a greenhouseSupplied

    Susan Kohli said her father was a "very active" man who had three allotment plots where he grew fruit and vegetables.

    "He was an amazing man who loved life. He never took himself seriously. He was good fun to be around and very chatty," she said.

    "He was the person who knitted our family together and we miss him every second of every day.”

  3. What happened to Bhim Kohli?

    Dan Martin
    BBC News, Leicester

    Prosecutors said Bhim Kohli was walking his dog Rocky in Franklin Park, yards from his home in Bramble Way, Braunstone Town, on 1 September, 2024, when he had the “misfortune” to encounter the defendants.

    The trial heard the boy approached Mr Kohli, racially abused him and slapped him in the face with a shoe while he was on his knees during the "intense attack".

    The jury heard the girl encouraged the violence and laughed as she filmed the assault on her mobile phone.

    Both then fled the scene.

    A police officer standing by a taped off area of grass

    Members of Mr Kohli’s family went looking for him when he did not return home and found him on the ground, in the park, screaming in agony as paramedics treated him.

    He told his daughter he had been punched in the face, kicked, and racially abused. He died from his injuries in hospital the following day.

    His cause of death was given as a neck injury causing spinal cord damage, and he had a number of other injuries including fractured ribs.

    Police launched a search for the attackers and arrested the boy who they found hiding in a bush near his home.

    Officers later arrested the girl at her school and found video clips of the attack on her phone.

    While in custody and awaiting trial, the boy wrote a letter to a professional working with him in which he said: "I accept I did it and I'm doing time, I'm just scared about how long I have to do."

    He also said in the letter that his girlfriend had broken up with him and he had been "struggling with that", so he "needed anger etc releasing".

  4. Welcome to our live updates

    Good afternoon and welcome to our coverage of the sentencing hearing for a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl who were found guilty of manslaughter of Bhim Kohli, an 80-year-old man who was fatally attacked at a park in Leicestershire.