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A person has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 23 years for the killing of a teenage Syrian refugee after the boy walked by his girlfriend in Huddersfield town centre.

Trial Learns Particulars of Fatal Confrontation

A Leeds courtroom heard how the accused, aged 20, attacked with a knife the teenager, 16, soon after the teenager passed his companion. He was declared guilty of homicide on Thursday.

Ahmad, who had escaped war-torn Homs after being wounded in a explosion, had been staying in the Huddersfield area for only a short period when he met the defendant, who had been for a employment office visit that day and was going to buy cosmetic adhesive with his partner.

Details of the Incident

The trial learned that Franco – who had used weed, a stimulant drug, diazepam, ketamine and a painkiller – took “a trivial issue” to the teenager “innocuously” passing by his companion in the public space.

Surveillance tape displayed the defendant uttering words to Ahmad, and calling him over after a quick argument. As Ahmad walked over, Franco deployed the weapon on a flick knife he was holding in his pants and thrust it into the victim's neck.

Trial Outcome and Sentencing

Franco pleaded not guilty to murder, but was found guilty by a panel of jurors who deliberated for just over three hours. He confessed to possessing a knife in a public area.

While handing Franco his sentence on the fifth day of the week, judge Howard Crowson said that upon seeing Ahmad, the defendant “identified him as a target and enticed him to within your proximity to strike before taking his life”. He said Franco’s claim to have noticed a knife in the victim's belt was “false”.

Crowson said of the teenager that “it is evidence to the healthcare workers attempting to rescue him and his determination to live he even made it to the hospital alive, but in truth his injuries were lethal”.

Family Impact and Statement

Reading out a statement written by the victim's uncle his uncle, with input from his parents, Richard Wright KC told the court that the teenager’s father had suffered a heart attack upon being informed of his son’s death, causing him to require surgery.

“I am unable to describe the impact of their terrible act and the impact it had over the whole family,” the testimony read. “His mother still sobs over his garments as they remind her of him.”

Ghazwan, who said his nephew was like a son and he felt guilty he could not shield him, went on to declare that Ahmad had thought he had found “the land of peace and the achievement of aspirations” in the UK, but instead was “brutally snatched by the pointless and random violence”.

“Being his relative, I will always carry the guilt that he had come to the UK, and I could not keep him safe,” he said in a statement after the sentencing. “Ahmad we love you, we miss you and we will continue always.”

History of the Teenager

The proceedings heard the teenager had journeyed for a quarter of a year to get to England from Syria, staying at a shelter for young people in the Welsh city and going to school in the Swansea area before moving to his final destination. The teenager had hoped to work as a doctor, motivated partly by a wish to care for his mom, who was affected by a persistent condition.