A court has heard details of the moment a bright young student athlete studying Accounting and Finance was handcuffed by police after being stabbed by a Sikh man in Southampton.
Eighteen year old Henry Nowak was returning home after a night out with his university football team when he encountered twenty three year old Vickram Digwa. Nowak had been recording videos on Snapchat to send to his friends around the time of the attack, which were played in court.
In the footage, Henry is seen singing to himself on his walk home, and playfully greeting cars he passed. The footage then cuts to an altercation between Henry and Digwa, with Henry heard saying “Innit bad man, what bad man? You’re a bad man, say you’re a bad man, go on.”
“I am a bad man.” Digwa replied.
Shortly after the footage concludes, Digwa is alleged to have stabbed Henry with the shastar he was carrying. The court also heard details of Henry’s post-mortem, which revealed he had been stabbed four times, twice in the back of the legs, and had been cut on his jaw.
Digwa claims he acted in self-defence after being racially abused and attacked.
The stabbing itself is not recorded, but the footage shows Digwa openly carrying a 21cm knife, known as a shastar in Punjabi. Sikh’s are legally permitted to carry blades in public due to a religious accommodation in UK law as their religion requires them to be armed in public.
Prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg KC explained to the court:
“Sikhism obliges male followers of the faith to carry and wear certain items, these include a wooden comb, a metal bangle and what is called a kirpan, a ceremonial knife,”
Lobbenberg also said that Digwa wore a smaller, ceremonial dagger called a Kirpan around his neck at the time of the stabbing.
“That small kirpan satisfies any religious obligation a Sikh may have to carry a blade, and Mr Vickrum Digwa was carrying that under his clothing and around his neck.”
When police finally arrived on the scene, Digwa denied stabbing Henry, and said he had attacked him and racially abused him. Henry denied attacking or racially abusing Digwa, and told police he had been stabbed. The police on scene handcuffed Henry, only beginning first aid when he finally collapsed.
A doctor was brought in by helicopter, but it was too late. Henry Nowak, a beloved son, brother, and friend to many, was dead.
During the investigation into Henry’s murder, it was found that Digwa had taken Henry’s phone, and that his mother had come and removed the shastar from the scene. She is also being tried for assisting an offender.
The trial is still ongoing, but most of the facts of the case seem to have been established. It would be incredibly surprising to see anything other than a guilty verdict, but these events serve as a gut-wrenching reminder of the state of law and order in this country.
If it wasn’t confirmed by multiple mainstream sources, most would struggle to believe that something like this could happen. The idea that a young man could be stabbed four times and end up in handcuffs rather than an ambulance, solely because his attacker said he was rude is harrowing.
It is a disturbing microcosm of the way justice works in this country. The state is primarily concerned with containing undesirable sentiments amongst the native population, with the prevention of violent crime and disorder once again taking a back seat.
In modern Britain, you can rape, murder, plunder and pillage to your heart’s content, so long as you leave the banks, the shops, and the city hall alone.
But don’t you dare be rude to a foreign man.
Rest in peace, Henry Nowak. You deserved a better Britain.
