Bhim Kohli: 80-year-old grandfather racially abused before alleged murder in park, trial hears

An 80-year-old man was racially abused before being allegedly murdered while walking his dog in a park, a jury has been told.

Bhim Kohli was shoved to the ground and slapped in the face with a shoe by a boy wearing a balaclava, a trial at Leicester Crown Court heard.

The grandfather had walked a short distance from his home to Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, near Leicester, when he was attacked on 1 September last year, the court heard.

Mr Kohli died in hospital the next day after suffering fractured ribs and a spinal cord injury.

A 15-year-old boy is on trial charged with one count of murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

A 13-year-old girl is charged with Mr Kohli's manslaughter.

Neither child can be named because of their ages and both deny the charges against them.

Victim's daughter - 'My dad screamed'

On the fourth day of the trial, a written statement from Mr Kohli's daughter Susan Kohli recounted the aftermath of the attack in the park.

"Whilst by his side, I knelt down and said, 'Dad, what has happened?'. He screamed, 'My neck. my neck, my neck, lift my neck'," the statement said.

"This was not his normal tone. He was in agony, almost screaming. I have never heard him cry out in pain about anything like that before."

A second statement from Ms Kohli said: "While we were on Franklin Park my dad told me that they had called him a P***."

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Simranjeet Kohli, Mr Kohli's grandson, who was in the park in the aftermath of the attack, said in a statement: "My granddad was yelling in pain as he was laying there."

Jurors heard an account of the alleged attack, detailed in a police report by officers who had heard from a witness.

According to the report, she described "seeing the boy forcefully pushing the old man on to his back".

The jury heard the witness described the old man as "ending up on the floor screaming".

A statement from PC Rachelle Pereira said: "Mr Kohli was repeatedly screaming out in pain, shouting out 'My neck'."

Her statement said the witness told the police officer she saw a young white boy wearing a black balaclava "shove the old man to the floor and sprint".

The trial continues.

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