Alfie Franco, a 20-year-old man described as "cocky" by prosecutors, has been found guilty of murdering Syrian refugee Ahmad Al Ibrahim after stabbing him in the neck on a busy shopping street. The 16-year-old victim had fled war-torn Homs after being injured in a bombing and had been living in Huddersfield for only a couple of weeks when he was killed on April 3.
Leeds Crown Court heard Franco took "some petty exception" to Ahmad "innocuously" walking past his girlfriend in the West Yorkshire town centre. The teenager was walking around town with a friend while Franco was buying eyelash glue with his girlfriend after a Jobcentre appointment.
CCTV footage showed Franco calling Ahmad 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, with prosecutors saying he kept the knife hidden "in a sly way" until the last second so that Ahmad "didn't have a chance".
The fatal attack
The knife travelled about 6cm deep into Ahmad's neck, causing "immediate and massive blood loss" and causing him to choke to death. Footage played during the trial showed Ahmad clutching his throat and staggering a few yards up the street before collapsing.
Franco fled the scene but later handed himself in at a police station, claiming he had been acting in self-defence. He told officers he had spent years living in South Africa as the only white boy in the Cape Flats, where "if a boy came for you with aggression, they are either coming to hurt you or kill you".
Franco, who returned to Huddersfield from South Africa 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 just wanted to "cut him and get away", telling jurors he carried a knife because he had "been in altercations and heard things that happen" in Huddersfield town centre.
Prosecution case and verdict
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC rejected Franco's self-defence claims, telling jurors: "To plunge that knife into someone's neck who has done no more than walk towards you after you've engaged them in some verbal argy-bargy in the street… That's not reasonable self-defence." Wright described Franco as "cool as a cucumber" when he delivered the fatal blow, even continuing to eat his ice cream during the verbal altercation.
The prosecutor described the case as involving "a young man with a cocky swagger, wandering around town with his girlfriend, on drugs, who doesn't like the fact that Ahmad has spoken back to him". The court heard Franco had consumed cannabis before the killing and tests revealed he had recently used cocaine, diazepam, ketamine and codeine.
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. On Thursday, Franco was found guilty of murder by a jury after just over three hours of deliberations, having already admitted possessing a knife in a public place at an earlier hearing.
Family's heartbreak
Ahmad had arrived in the UK as an unaccompanied child refugee and was originally housed elsewhere before being moved to Huddersfield to be near his uncle. After his death, his family said he dreamed of becoming a doctor, "wanting to heal others after all he had endured".
The family said: "He chose to come to the UK because he believed in the values of human rights, safety, and dignity… he had just begun settling into his new life with his uncle, adjusting to a new language, a new home, and a future he was excited to build." They added: "We never thought that the place he saw as a safe haven would be where his life would end."
Ahmad's uncle Ghazwan Al Ibrahim said: "Ahmad was just 16 years old when he was cruelly taken away by the senseless and unprovoked act committed by Franco." He described having to identify his nephew and break the news to Ahmad's parents, saying: "His parents are heartbroken beyond words."
Franco will be sentenced on Friday afternoon.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
