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A individual has been sentenced to life with a lowest sentence of 23 years for the killing of a young Syrian asylum seeker after the boy passed his girlfriend in Huddersfield town centre.

Court Learns Details of Deadly Altercation

The court in Leeds learned how the accused, 20, attacked with a knife the teenager, aged 16, shortly after the teenager brushed past his companion. He was declared guilty of homicide on the fourth day of the week.

The victim, who had fled war-torn Homs after being wounded in a bombing, had been staying in the Huddersfield area for only a short period when he encountered his attacker, who had been for a jobcentre appointment that day and was planning to get eyelash glue with his girlfriend.

Particulars of the Incident

The trial heard that the accused – who had taken weed, a stimulant drug, diazepam, ketamine and a painkiller – took “a trivial issue” to the teenager “harmlessly” walking past his girlfriend in the public space.

CCTV footage revealed Franco uttering words to the teenager, and gesturing him closer after a quick argument. As the youth approached, Franco deployed the weapon on a switchblade he was holding in his pants and plunged it into the boy’s neck.

Trial Outcome and Sentencing

The defendant refuted the murder charge, but was judged guilty by a trial jury who considered the evidence for about three hours. He admitted guilt to carrying a blade in a public area.

While sentencing the defendant on last Friday, the presiding judge said that upon observing the victim, the man “marked him as a victim and drew him to within your reach to strike before taking his life”. He said the defendant's assertion to have noticed a knife in the boy's clothing was “false”.

He said of the teenager that “it stands as proof to the healthcare workers trying to save his life and his determination to live he even made it to the hospital alive, but in fact his trauma were unsurvivable”.

Family Reaction and Statement

Reading out a declaration prepared by the victim's uncle Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, with contributions from his mother and father, the legal representative told the judges that the boy's dad had had a heart episode upon learning of the incident of his son’s death, leading to an operation.

“Words cannot capture the consequence of their awful offense and the impact it had over all involved,” the message stated. “The boy's mom still sobs over his clothes as they remind her of him.”

He, who said Ahmad was like a son and he felt ashamed he could not keep him safe, went on to state that the teenager had thought he had found “a safe haven and the realization of hopes” in the UK, but instead was “brutally snatched by the unnecessary and sudden attack”.

“In my role as his uncle, I will always carry the guilt that the boy had come to the UK, and I could not keep him safe,” he said in a statement after the judgment. “Dear Ahmad we love you, we miss you and we will feel this way eternally.”

Background of the Teenager

The proceedings was told the victim had travelled for a quarter of a year to reach the UK from the Middle East, visiting a shelter for young people in a city in Wales and going to school in the local college before moving to West Yorkshire. The boy had dreamed of becoming a medical professional, motivated partly by a desire to look after his mother, who had a persistent condition.