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A man has been jailed for life with a lowest sentence of 23 years for the murder of a young Syrian refugee after the boy brushed past his companion in downtown Huddersfield.

Trial Learns Details of Fatal Confrontation

The court in Leeds learned how Alfie Franco, twenty, stabbed Ahmad Al Ibrahim, sixteen, soon after the boy walked by the defendant's partner. He was found guilty of the killing on last Thursday.

Ahmad, who had left battle-scarred his Syrian hometown after being wounded in a bombing, had been living in the West Yorkshire town for only a short period when he crossed paths with the defendant, who had been for a meeting at the job center that day and was going to buy eyelash glue with his girlfriend.

Particulars of the Attack

The trial heard that the accused – who had consumed cannabis, a stimulant drug, diazepam, ketamine and codeine – took “some petty exception” to the boy “innocuously” passing by his partner in the road.

Surveillance tape displayed the defendant uttering words to the victim, and gesturing him closer after a quick argument. As Ahmad came closer, Franco deployed the weapon on a switchblade he was holding in his pants and thrust it into the victim's neck.

Trial Outcome and Sentencing

The defendant refuted the murder charge, but was convicted by a trial jury who took a little more than three hours to decide. He confessed to having a knife in a public area.

While delivering the judgment on last Friday, judge Howard Crowson said that upon observing the victim, the defendant “singled him out and drew him to within your reach to strike before ending his life”. He said his statement to have spotted a blade in the victim's belt was “a lie”.

Crowson said of the victim that “it is a testament to the healthcare workers working to keep him alive and his determination to live he even reached the hospital with signs of life, but in fact his trauma were lethal”.

Relatives Reaction and Statement

Reading out a declaration written by Ahmad’s uncle the family member, with input from his parents, the legal representative told the trial that the boy's dad had experienced cardiac arrest upon being informed of his child's passing, necessitating medical intervention.

“I am unable to describe the impact of their terrible act and the effect it had over the whole family,” the message stated. “The boy's mom still weeps over his garments as they carry his scent.”

He, who said his nephew was like a son and he felt remorseful he could not keep him safe, went on to state that Ahmad had thought he had found “a safe haven and the achievement of aspirations” in the UK, but instead was “cruelly taken away by the pointless and random violence”.

“Being his relative, I will always feel responsible that he had traveled to England, and I could not keep him safe,” he said in a declaration after the verdict. “Our beloved boy we adore you, we miss you and we will do for ever.”

Background of the Victim

The trial learned Ahmad had made his way for three months to reach the UK from Syria, visiting a asylum seeker facility for young people in a city in Wales and attending college in the Welsh city before moving to West Yorkshire. The teenager had dreamed of becoming a physician, inspired partially by a desire to look after his mother, who suffered from a long-term health problem.