A youth has been jailed for more than 10 years for stabbing an Afghan refugee to death in a park with a knife he hid outside court while he was sentenced for a separate crime.
Hazrat Wali, 18, died in hospital after suffering a 10cm deep wound in playing fields in Twickenham, southwest London, in October 2021. Players in a nearby school rugby match watched as the injured teenager picked up a branch before he collapsed.
A 17-year-old youth admitted wielding a knife within hours of leaving a magistrates’ court, but denied he intended to cause the student and aspiring cricketer Wali really serious harm.
A jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty of manslaughter. The court heard the defendant, who was enrolled on a college course, went on to attack a McDonald’s staff member an hour after stabbing Wali, for which he later pleaded guilty to affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The teenager was caught with a knife at Southside shopping centre in Wandsworth two months before the killing. He pleaded guilty to that offence and was given a youth rehabilitation order at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on the morning of the killing.
Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC sentenced him to 10 years and eight months’ detention at the Old Bailey on Friday.
Wali’s older brother, Mohamed Ashuk, told the court in a victim impact statement that his sibling came to London from Afghanistan “hoping for a safer life”.
The court heard Wali’s twin brother was “traumatised” by the news of his death when he arrived in the UK.
Wali was sitting in the park with Mariam Ahmadazai, a female friend, when they were approached by the defendant and five other teenagers.
Prosecutor Jacob Hallam KC had said that one of the girls in the group made a comment that the pair “looked nice together”.
The defendant, then aged 16, began swearing at Wali, who got to his feet and approached him. The defendant pushed Mr Wali with his chest. Mr Wali rang a male friend for help, saying he was going to be in a fight.
The defendant then produced a 20cm long black knife with zigzag-shaped indentations on the blade and, following further exchanges, stabbed Mr Wali in the right side, causing a 10cm deep wound and massive blood loss.
Fatally injured, Wali grabbed the defendant’s jacket and asked: “Why did you stab me?” He picked up a fallen branch but collapsed soon afterwards.
A teacher from a local school gave first aid and emergency services attended but they were unable to save his life and Wali died about an hour later.
Giving evidence in court, the youth said he grew “scared” when Wali called his male friend for “back-up”, and added: “I thought he had something on him, a knife.”
At the time of the killing, the youth said he sometimes “felt unsafe” walking on the streets and would carry a knife for “protection” after incidents in which he, a cousin and a friend were attacked.
Under cross-examination, the youth admitted attacking another inmate while on remand at Feltham Young Offender Institution a month after the killing.
He pleaded guilty to affray and was sentenced to a four-month detention and training order, the court was told. Garry Green, defending, said his client suffered trauma from witnessing domestic violence when he was younger and has been subject to social services since he was two years old.
