During Digwa’s sentencing on Monday, Judge William Mousley KC described, external how Nowak’s journey home took him north along Belmont Road to the junction with St Denys Road – where his killer lived.
Judge Mousley said Digwa, 23, was walking south along Belmont Road at the same time, in what “was to be a chance meeting”.
Nowak was alone and unarmed, the judge said. He added that the 18-year-old was not drunk, and his blood alcohol level was found to be below the drink-drive limit.
Digwa, who is Sikh, was carrying a knife in a sheath on his belt which Nowak then began filming on his phone, the judge said. Judge Mousley commented that it is a strict requirement of the Sikh faith to carry a knife, called a kirpan, at all times.
The judge also said Digwa was carrying a second, larger dagger in a sheath – which is also a part of his tradition as a member of the Nihang order of Sikhs. Wearing the second knife is not a strict requirement, he added.
Mousley KC said that Nowak asked Digwa if he was a “bad man”, likely to have been prompted by him noticing the dagger. The judge said Digwa told Nowak he was “a bad man” and took the student’s phone.
The “exact events which immediately followed” were only witnessed by the two men, the judge noted.
But in his sentencing remarks, he explained: “it would not be unreasonable to conclude that Henry would have wanted his phone back, believing it had been stolen from him or that he had been robbed.”
The judge said that in the ensuing altercation Digwa drew the dagger from its sheath and deliberately stabbed the defenceless student in the chest.
He added that Digwa stabbed Nowak four times including twice in the upper leg and that “one or more of the stab wounds must have had an immediate effect as Henry was never able to put up his hands to defend himself from further serious injury”.
The judge explained that footage filmed by Digwa showed Nowak “desperately trying to get away” by scaling a fence and getting onto a communal bin before landing on a car in front of the next-door property.
Digwa “continued to make films of Henry suffering, ignoring much of his desperation at having been stabbed”, the judge added.
At approximately 23:30 – less than half an hour after Nowak was seen on CCTV heading home – the killer’s brother, Gurpreet Digwa, called 999. He told the operator that Vickrum had been “attacked by someone racially” and gave the location.
“He’s physically attacked my brother. We’re Sikhs, we wear turbans and he’s just attacked my brother,” Gurpreet can be heard saying. He told the call handler, when asked, that no weapons had been involved but that Nowak needed medical attention.
The call lasted just under 12 minutes. The handler tells Gurpreet that police officers will be at the scene “very shortly” and that an ambulance would also be called.
