Sarah Young and Marissa Davison
Southampton, England: British police face a national backlash over the inflammatory case of an 18-year-old student who was handcuffed as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer falsely alleged a racist attack.
Henry Nowak died after the knife attack in the southern England city of Southampton in December. In police bodycam footage, Nowak is seen lying on the street – while his killer stands nearby – saying “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe”.
An officer responds: “I don’t think you have, mate.”
His killer Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man, was sentenced to life in prison this week, having lied to police at the time that Nowak had assaulted him in a racist attack.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday (UK time) said he was sickened by the video and that there were “serious questions” to answer, including how “allegations of racism informed or fed into the decision-making in that particular case”.
“It is impossible to watch that footage and not appreciate that those questions absolutely have to be answered,” Starmer said.
Judge William Mousley acknowledged in court that the case had stirred racial tension across Britain.
He told Digwa that he didn’t believe Nowak said anything racist to him. “You are the only person to make that claim and it is completely at odds with his previous character,” he said.
After the sentencing hearing, the victim’s father, Mark Nowak, said that the case wasn’t about racism or religion.
But Nigel Farage, whose anti-immigration Reform party leads opinion polls, said it was an example of the rights of ethnic minorities trumping those of white British people.
“The fear of being called racist was greater than dealing with Henry Nowak’s murder,” he said in a statement. “We should respond to this with pure cold rage.”
A protest later on Tuesday outside the Southampton police station drew a few hundred people – including anti-immigration activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson – chanting “I can’t breathe”.
The London Telegraph reported that protesters had thrown bottles, bricks and wheelie bins at riot police on a residential street near where the murder took place. More protests have been advertised for this week.
Digwa stabbed Nowak with a knife he said he was permitted to carry due to exemptions for Sikhs to have ceremonial daggers. When police arrived, Digwa said his turban had been knocked off and he had an injury to his eye.
Nowak’s family called his treatment by police “inhumane and degrading” but in a statement outside court, his father said his death should not be “used to create further division, hatred or tension”.
That was echoed by Britain’s interior minister, Shabana Mahmood, who told parliament on Tuesday that everyone was equal before the law and urged calm during the investigation.
“We must condemn those who seek personal political profit from tragedy,” she said, warning that threats against police and inflammatory commentary were worsening the situation.
She said public services should assess only the risk a person poses, not race or religion. Referencing previous efforts to tackle racism in policing, Mahmood said, “Whatever changes are made, it is important that nobody over-corrects or course-corrects such that all of us as citizens are no longer equal before the law.”
Farage sought to draw parallels with the 2020 killing of George Floyd in the US, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. Floyd had said “I can’t breathe” as a police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes.
Nowak died shortly after being handcuffed by police. Once they realised he was injured, they uncuffed him and started CPR.
The police force, Hampshire Police, has apologised.
In a separate statement, the force said one of the officers involved in the arrest had resigned, while three others were being treated as witnesses in the investigation.
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s Office said it had received multiple requests to consider raising Digwa’s 21-year minimum sentence, adding that law officers had 28 days from sentencing to make a decision on any changes.
Reuters, AP
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