LONDON: A 17-year-old-boy stabbed an Afghan refugee to death in London just hours after being sentenced for carrying a knife in a shopping mall, the Daily Mail reported.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, killed Hazrat Wali, 18, following an argument in a London park in October 2021.
Wali was sitting with a female friend as the boy approached with five other people. An argument ensued over hijab norms, a witness said, with Wali accusing the 17-year-old of racism.
The boy produced a knife and stabbed Wali — who had arrived in Britain two years earlier — in the chest.
He died at the scene shortly after, despite a passerby calling emergency services and attempting to administer first aid.
The killer was found guilty of manslaughter at the Old Bailey by a jury majority of 10 to two, but was cleared of murder. He is due to be sentenced in March after being remanded into youth detention.
The court heard that the 17-year-old had been handed a youth rehabilitation order on the day of the killing, after being caught carrying a knife in a shopping mall months earlier in August 2021.
Through evidence given in court, the boy admitted to being “hot-headed” and prone to “releasing anger.”
The 17-year-old claimed that he regularly carried a knife to protect himself on the street after “feeling unsafe” following a series of incidents.
