18-year-old Henry Nowak was stabbed 5 times
A jury has now decided the case of a Sikh man accused of murdering 18-year-old Henry Nowak after a late-night confrontation in Southampton last year.Vikram Digwa denies charges of murder, manslaughter and carrying a knife in public.
His mother, Kiran Kaur, denied helping the perpetrator.Jurors retired at Southampton Crown Court at 12.49pm on Tuesday to consider their verdicts after hearing weeks of evidence. The panel of eight women and four men will now evaluate the testimony and footage presented during the trial.Nowak, a student from Essex, was killed on December 3 last year as he returned home after a night out in Southampton city centre.During his closing remarks, Judge William Moseley QC reviewed evidence heard throughout the trial, including Degois’ claims that Nowak was drunk and was “stumbling and weaving”.
However, the judge reminded jurors that a pathologist had testified that Novak was below the legal limit for drink driving.An argument broke out after Nowak stormed into Degoa and said: “You could have come forward a little more.”Jurors were also shown a Snapchat video that Nowak recorded shortly before the stabbing. In the clip, Nowak tells Degoa: “Say you’re a bad guy, keep going.”“I’m a bad guy,” Degoa responds, before approaching Nowak and grabbing his phone.
Degoa later told the court that Nowak had “beaten” his turban and was “tearing” it out of his hair. Throughout the trial, Degoa maintained that he acted in self-defense and claimed that he was racially attacked. Nowak was stabbed five times, including once in the chest, using what they described as a “21cm skewer blade”, also known as a “kirpan”. The kirpan is a ceremonial knife carried by initiated Sikhs as an article of faith.The judge also referred to witness testimony describing two sounds during the incident. One witness reportedly heard someone shouting, “You won’t get away from this big guy,” followed by another frightened-sounding voice saying, “You’ve been stabbed.”Last week, the judge ordered jurors to also consider an alternative charge of manslaughter, which Degoa denied.The court also heard transcripts of the moments following the stabbing, in which Nowak said: “I’m dying,” and Degua replied: “You’re not dying, brother.”Nowak was handcuffed by police shortly before losing consciousness. The ruling is expected to be issued once the deliberations are over.
