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A individual has been jailed for life with a lowest sentence of 23 years for the homicide of a teenage Syrian refugee after the victim passed his girlfriend in Huddersfield town centre.

Court Hears Details of Deadly Altercation

The court in Leeds heard how Alfie Franco, aged 20, knifed Ahmad Al Ibrahim, 16, soon after the boy walked by his companion. He was declared guilty of murder on last Thursday.

The victim, who had fled battle-scarred Homs after being wounded in a blast, had been staying in the local community for only a short period when he crossed paths with the defendant, who had been for a jobcentre appointment that day and was intending to purchase beauty product with his female companion.

Particulars of the Assault

The trial learned that Franco – who had taken cannabis, cocaine, a prescription medication, ketamine and a painkiller – took “some petty exception” to the boy “harmlessly” passing by his girlfriend in the street.

CCTV footage showed the man saying something to the victim, and calling him over after a brief exchange. As the boy approached, Franco deployed the weapon on a folding knife he was holding in his pants and drove it into the teenager's throat.

Verdict and Sentencing

The accused pleaded not guilty to murder, but was found guilty by a panel of jurors who took a little more than three hours to decide. He admitted guilt to possessing a knife in a public place.

While handing Franco his sentence on last Friday, judge Howard Crowson said that upon observing the victim, the man “singled him out and enticed him to within your reach to assault before taking his life”. He said the defendant's assertion to have noticed a knife in the boy's clothing was “a lie”.

Crowson said of the teenager that “it is evidence to the healthcare workers attempting to rescue him and his determination to live he even arrived at the hospital breathing, but in fact his wounds were unsurvivable”.

Family Reaction and Message

Reciting a message drafted by his relative Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, with contributions from his mother and father, Richard Wright KC told the trial that the victim's parent had suffered a heart attack upon learning of the incident of his son’s death, causing him to require surgery.

“Words cannot capture the impact of their heinous crime and the influence it had over everyone,” the message read. “The victim's mother still sobs over his clothes as they remind her of him.”

He, who said Ahmad was as close as a child and he felt guilty he could not keep him safe, went on to state that Ahmad had thought he had found “the land of peace and the realization of hopes” in Britain, but instead was “cruelly taken away by the senseless and unprovoked act”.

“Being his relative, I will always bear the shame that he had come to the UK, and I could not protect him,” he said in a declaration after the sentencing. “Dear Ahmad we love you, we yearn for you and we will do for ever.”

History of the Victim

The court heard Ahmad had journeyed for 90 days to arrive in Britain from his home country, visiting a refugee centre for youths in a city in Wales and going to school in the Swansea area before relocating to Huddersfield. The young man had aspired to be a doctor, inspired partially by a wish to look after his mother, who had a long-term health problem.