A man who stabbed a 16-year-old Syrian refugee in the neck after he brushed past his girlfriend has been jailed for life with a minimum of 23 years.
Alfie Franco, 20, was convicted on Thursday of murdering Ahmad Al Ibrahim on a busy shopping street in Huddersfield earlier this year.
Ahmad, who fled war-torn Homs as an unaccompanied child refugee after being injured in a bombing, had only been living in the West Yorkshire town for a couple of weeks.
Ahmad Al Ibrahim, 16, was stabbed to death. Pic: PA/West Yorkshire Police
Jurors at Leeds Crown Court heard that on 3 April, Ahmad, whose parents said he had dreamed of being a doctor, was walking around the town with a friend – while Franco was going to buy eyelash glue with his girlfriend after a Jobcentre appointment.
When they crossed paths, prosecutors said Franco took “some petty exception” to Ahmad “innocuously” walking past his girlfriend.
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CCTV shows moments before man stabs refugee
CCTV footage showed Franco saying something to Ahmad, before calling him over after a short verbal altercation.
As Ahmad walked over, Franco opened the blade on a flick knife he was carrying and drove it into the teenager’s neck.
The court heard Franco had used cannabis before the encounter.
Later tests also revealed he had recently used cocaine, diazepam, ketamine and codeine.
Handing sentence, Judge Howard Crowson said Franco’s claims of being in fear of Ahmad were “incredible” as the CCTV footage showed the defendant calmly eating ice cream while preparing to stab him.
He told Franco: “During this trial you tried to portray Ahmad as aggressive and threatening. The CCTV reveals you were under no threat whatsoever.
“Ahmad was unarmed as he walked peacefully about Huddersfield town centre that day.”
He said Franco’s claim to have seen a weapon on Ahmad’s waistband was “a lie,” and added: “Before Ahmad made any movement towards you, you prepared your knife for use.
“You calmly and surreptitiously removed the knife from your waistband, opened it and concealed it in your pocket.”
He said he was satisfied that Franco intended to kill Ahmad and that he had “lured” the boy to within striking distance before lunging at him with the knife, deliberately aiming for his neck.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said during the trial that “to plunge that knife into someone’s neck who has done no more than walk towards you after you’ve engaged them in some verbal argy-bargy in the street… that’s not reasonable self-defence”.
Also during the trial, Franco told the court he thought he had seen Ahmad reaching for a weapon in his waistband during the altercation and said he had only been aiming for the boy’s cheek, and wanted to “cut him and get away”.
Mr Wright added: “This is a case of a young man with a cocky swagger, wandering around town with his girlfriend, on drugs, who doesn’t like the fact that Ahmad has spoken back to him.”
