Authorities Failed to Act on Data That May Have Prevented Elderly Dog Walker's Brutal Killing by Racist Adolescent Brutes, Daughter Reveals
In the quiet town of Braunstone, Leicestershire, the community is still reeling from a tragic event that took place last September. Bhim Kohli, an 80-year-old resident, was beaten to death in Franklin Park, just yards from his home, while walking his dog Rocky. Two teenagers, now aged 15 and 13, were convicted of manslaughter in connection with the murder.
Two weeks prior to the fatal attack, Bhim Kohli had witnessed another Asian man being racially abused and assaulted by two boys, aged 12 and 13, in the same park on August 17, 2024. Despite the severity of this earlier incident, which involved being punched, kicked, racially abused, and slapped with a shoe, the police did not take meaningful action against the attackers before the fatal attack happened roughly two weeks later.
Bhim Kohli's daughter, Susan Kohli, believes that if the police had acted promptly following this initial racially motivated assault, it could have deterred or prevented the subsequent fatal attack. She contends that police inaction was a critical missed opportunity to protect her father and prevent his murder.
The later fatal attack resulted in Bhim Kohli’s death the following day. The 15-year-old boy was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in custody. The Court of Appeal upheld this sentence, noting the seriousness of the offence and the victim’s vulnerability due to his frailty. The girl involved in the attack received a youth rehabilitation order of three years and was made subject to a six-month curfew.
Ms Kohli has asked the police watchdog, the IOPC, to review the investigation again. She believes that had the police acted sooner, word would have gotten around to say, 'you might need to be cautious about being around this area'. Furthermore, she believes that police presence or action could have sent a message around the estate and potentially deterred future attacks.
Leicestershire Police has identified 'organizational learning' for logging anti-social behavior. However, Ms Kohli questions the time delay between identifying the boys involved in the previous attack and their arrest, three days after her father was beaten to death. The teenagers could be heard laughing in the footage of the attack, with one of them using her phone to film it.
In a heart-wrenching statement, Ms Kohli believes that her father 'would still be here' had police acted sooner over the previous attack. She walks her dog Rocky every day in the park next to her home in Leicester and wishes for a safer environment for all residents.
[1] Leicester Mercury [2] BBC News [3] Guardian [4] Leicestershire Live
- Bhim Kohli's death could have potentially been prevented if the police had acted promptly after the initial racially motivated assault, as general news sources report.
- Amid the ongoing discussions about the police investigation, Susan Kohli requests the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to review the case again, citing the delay in the teenagers' arrest as a concern, as noted in Leicester Mercury.
- Susan Kohli has been advocating for increased police presence and action in the neighborhood, believing it could serve to deter similar war-and-conflicts, crime-and-justice incidents like the one that tragically claimed her father's life, as stated in Guardian and Leicestershire Live.
