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A man has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 23 years for the murder of a teenage Syrian asylum seeker after the victim passed his companion in Huddersfield town centre.

Court Learns Details of Fatal Altercation

Leeds crown court learned how Alfie Franco, aged 20, knifed the teenager, 16, shortly after the boy brushed past the defendant's partner. He was convicted of the killing on last Thursday.

The victim, who had escaped conflict-ridden Homs after being hurt in a explosion, had been residing in the local community for only a few weeks when he crossed paths with his attacker, who had been for a meeting at the job center that day and was planning to get beauty product with his female companion.

Details of the Assault

The court heard that the accused – who had taken weed, cocaine, diazepam, an anesthetic and codeine – took “a minor offense” to the teenager “innocuously” passing by his girlfriend in the street.

Surveillance tape displayed Franco uttering words to Ahmad, and summoning him after a brief exchange. As Ahmad came closer, the attacker unfolded the knife on a switchblade he was carrying in his clothing and drove it into the victim's neck.

Verdict and Sentencing

Franco denied murder, but was found guilty by a trial jury who took a little more than three hours to decide. He admitted guilt to possessing a knife in a public space.

While delivering the judgment on the fifth day of the week, judge Howard Crowson said that upon spotting the teenager, the man “marked him as a victim and lured him to within your proximity to strike before taking his life”. He said Franco’s claim to have noticed a knife in the boy's clothing was “false”.

The judge said of Ahmad that “it is evidence to the medical personnel working to keep him alive and his desire to survive he even made it to the hospital alive, but in truth his wounds were fatal”.

Relatives Reaction and Message

Reciting a statement drafted by his relative Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, with help from his family, Richard Wright KC told the trial that the teenager’s father had had a heart episode upon learning of the incident of his child's passing, causing him to require surgery.

“I am unable to describe the consequence of their heinous crime and the influence it had over all involved,” the testimony stated. “His mother still cries over his belongings as they carry his scent.”

Ghazwan, who said the boy was as close as a child and he felt remorseful he could not keep him safe, went on to state that the victim had thought he had found “the land of peace and the fulfilment of dreams” in the UK, but instead was “cruelly taken away by the unnecessary and sudden attack”.

“Being his relative, I will always carry the guilt that Ahmad had traveled to England, and I could not ensure his safety,” he said in a declaration after the judgment. “Ahmad we care for you, we yearn for you and we will do for ever.”

Background of the Teenager

The trial heard the victim had journeyed for 90 days to reach the UK from the Middle East, staying at a shelter for youths in Swansea and attending college in the local college before moving to West Yorkshire. The boy had hoped to work as a medical professional, motivated partly by a wish to care for his mom, who had a chronic medical issue.