The uncle of a Syrian refugee who was stabbed to death on a street after moving to the UK to fulfil his dreams of becoming a doctor has told a court of the family's devastation.
Ahmad Al Ibrahim was killed in a “pointless, motiveless” broad daylight attack in Huddersfield, northern England, only weeks after moving to the town to be near his uncle.
The 16-year-old had spent three months travelling to the UK from Syria, fleeing war-torn Homs after being wounded in a bombing. He initially lived in a Home Office hotel in Swansea before moving to the west Yorkshire town.
He was stabbed in the neck after he crossed paths on a crowded shopping street with Alfie Franco, who was eating an ice cream as he went to buy eyelash glue with his girlfriend after going for an employment centre appointment that day.
Franco, 20, has been detained for life with a minimum term of 23 years after being found guilty of murder for the April 3 attack.
In a victim impact statement read in court, the uncle, Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, said Ahmad was “an intelligent and outstanding student” whose dream was to become a doctor.
He said his nephew had a “sociable and ambitious personality, loved helping people and was passionate about life”.
Mr Al Ibrahim said Ahmad’s death had crushed the possibility of a better life in the UK and wasted the family’s efforts to get him there.
“It was the end of everything we had hoped for Ahmad after we had been happy about his arrival in the UK – the land of peace and the fulfilment of dreams,” Mr Al Ibrahim said
Days after his death, Ahmad's family said he “wanted to heal others after all he had endured”. A campaign raised £15,000 for his family to help return Ahmad's body to Syria.
Leeds Crown Court heard Franco – who had consumed cannabis, cocaine, diazepam, ketamine, and codeine – took “some petty exception” to Ahmad “innocuously” walking past his girlfriend in the street.
CCTV footage showed Franco saying something to Ahmad, and calling him over after a short verbal altercation.
As Ahmad walked over, Franco opened the blade on a flick knife he was carrying in his trousers and drove it into the boy’s neck.
Prosecutors said Franco kept the “savage” knife hidden until the last second so that Ahmad, who was unarmed, “didn’t have a chance”.
Footage played during the trial showed Ahmad clutching his throat and staggering a few metres up the street before collapsing.
Franco denied committing murder, but was found guilty by a jury who deliberated for just over three hours. He pleaded guilty to possessing a knife in a public place.
Franco, who spent most of his childhood in South Africa before returning to Huddersfield at the age of 13, told the trial he thought he had seen Ahmad reaching for a weapon in his waistband.
He said he had been aiming for the boy’s cheek and only wanted to “cut him and get away”.
Sentencing him on Friday, 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.
“During this trial you tried to portray Ahmad as aggressive and threatening,” he told Franco.
“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”.
“Before Ahmad made any movement towards you, you prepared your knife for use,” the judge added.
“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.
Jurors heard Franco “had a wider interest in knives” and had messaged a friend the day before threatening to stab someone over a stolen pushbike.
