News
Instagram.com/easterneyenews/ • www.easterneye.biz • April 11, 2025
A 15-YEAR-OLD boy and a
13-year-old girl were found
guilty on Tuesday (8) of the
manslaughter of 80-year-old
Bhim Kohli, who died last year
following an attack while walk-
ing his dog in a Leicester park.
The teenagers, who cannot be
named due to their age, were con-
victed after a six-week trial at
Leicester crown court.
Kohli was assaulted in Frank-
lin Park, Braunstone Town, on
the evening of September 1 last
year. He died in hospital the fol-
lowing day from injuries sus-
tained in the attack.
The boy was found not guilty of
murder. The girl was convicted for
encouraging the incident by point-
ing out the victim, filming the as-
sault on her phone, and laughing.
The pair are due to be sen-
tenced on May 20.
According to evidence present-
ed, Kohli left his home on Bram-
ble Way at 6.18pm on September
1, 2024, to walk his dog, Rocky.
CCTV footage showed the teen-
agers and three other youths en-
tering the park three minutes lat-
er. Within minutes, the 15-year-
old approached Kohli, verbally
abused him, and slapped him
with a slider. The girl recorded
parts of the incident on her phone.
The court heard the boy had
been told Kohli had previously hit
another teenager with a stick,
though this was not confirmed. As
the boy shouted at Kohli, the oth-
er three teenagers left. The boy
put on a balaclava before the
physical assault.
After the attack, the pair were
seen running out of the park at
6.28pm. Kohli’s grandson found
him lying on the ground. Emer-
gency services arrived soon after.
Kohli told them he had been at-
tacked by a boy who made a racist
comment and hit and kicked him.
He was taken to hospital and
later died from a neck injury and
rib fractures. The injuries were
caused during the attack.
Police arrested five teenagers
initially. The 15-year-old boy,
who was 14 at the time, was
charged a day after being arrest-
ed. The three other friends were
released with no further action.
The girl, who was 12 at the
time, was later charged in Decem-
ber after footage was recovered
from her phone.
Detectives also found Snapchat
messages where the boy admitted
the assault and claimed Kohli had
pulled a knife – something the
court found was not true.
Detective chief inspector Mark
Sinski said: “Bhim Kohli was sim-
ply doing what he did every day,
walking his dog… attacked by a
teenage boy, who was encour-
aged by a teenage girl.”
Due to prior police contact
with Kohli, the case was re-
ferred to the Independent Office
for Police Conduct. The investiga-
tion is being handled locally and
the report has been submitted to
the IOPC.
Teens guilty
of Kohli death
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FOREIGN SECRETARY
David Lammy said last
Saturday (5) it was
“unacceptable” that Is-
rael had detained two
UK MPs and denied
them entry.
Labour’s Yuan Yang
and Abtisam Mohamed
flew from London to Is-
rael, but were blocked
from entering the
country and deported,
media reported.
“It is unacceptable,
counterproductive,
and deeply concerning
that two British MPs on
a parliamentary dele-
gation to Israel have
been detained and re-
fused entry by the Is-
raeli authorities,” Lam-
my said in a statement.
“I have made clear
to my Israeli counter-
parts that this is no way
to treat British parlia-
mentarians, and we
have been in contact
with both MPs tonight
to offer our support.
“The UK govern-
ment’s focus remains
securing a return to the
ceasefire and negotia-
tions to stop the blood-
shed, free the hostages
and end the conflict in
Gaza.” In a joint state-
ment, the two MPs said
they were “astounded
at the unprecedented
step” taken by Israel.
But Israel said their
claim to be part of an
official parliamentary
delegation was false, as
no Israeli body was
aware of such a visit.
“Further questioning
revealed that the pur-
pose of their visit was
to document the ac-
tions of Israeli security
forces and spread hate
speech against Israel,”
added the interior min-
istry statement.
The incident sparked
a row between Lammy
and Conservative lead-
er Kemi Badenoch,
who told Sky News last
Sunday (6) she was
“very concerned”
about Labour MPs’
rhetoric on Israel and
“not surprised” the pair
were detained.
Lammy wrote on X:
“It’s disgraceful you are
cheerleading another
country for detaining
and deporting two Brit-
ish MPs.”
A DRUG dealer who master-
minded the import and sale of
cocaine and heroin worth
more than £4 million has been
jailed for 18 years, after Na-
tional Crime Agency (NCA) in-
vestigators identified him
from secret phone messages.
Heemal Vaid, 49, of Cheam,
used EncroChat – an encrypt-
ed phone service for criminals
– to broker deals, not knowing
that in 2020, an international
law enforcement team would
crack EncroChat’s encryption.
Thousands of unattributed
messages exchanged by Vaid
under the pseudonym “Stark-
cake” were passed to the NCA,
which led Operation Venetic –
the UK response to the take-
down of EncroChat by interna-
tional colleagues.
Investigators pored
through the messages, subse-
quently identifying that Stark-
cake arranged for 96 kg of co-
caine, worth £3.6m, to be im-
ported from Brazil over a
month in 2020, and for further
amounts of up to 15 kg to be
imported from the Nether-
lands every week.
The messages revealed that
Starcake was also arrang-
ing the supply of 20 kg of
heroin and one kg of cocaine
in the UK.
Lead investigating officer
Luke Seldon said: “As investi-
gators painstakingly examined
each of Starkcake’s messages it
became clear that he was a
linchpin in the criminal world.
“Starkcake had the links to
drugs suppliers overseas and
those selling potentially fatal
substances on UK streets. His
messages revealed he was also
a professional money launder-
er, managing and hiding mil-
lions of pounds that he and
others made from crime.”
Investigators arrested Vaid
at his home address during a
raid in April 2024.
The evidence gathered was
so compelling that Vaid plead-
ed guilty to 12 drugs and pro-
ceeds of crime charges, and a
count of conspiracy to black-
mail, relating to threats he
made to a debtor.
Lammy: Israel wrong to detain MPs
Drug dealer gets 18 years in jail
DEFENDANTS TO BE SENTENCED NEXT MONTH
CASE CLOSED:
Bhim Kohli