Henry Nowak stabbing case: Vickrum Digwa’s mother jailed for 3 years in UK for hiding murder weapon
A mother of Vickrum Digwa has been jailed for helping conceal the knife used to kill teenager Henry Nowak after taking the weapon from her son and hiding it at their Southampton home, BBC reported.Kiran Kaur, 53, was sentenced to three years in prison at Southampton Crown Court after being found guilty of assisting an offender. Prosecutors said she removed the murder weapon after her son, Vickrum Digwa, fatally stabbed 18-year-old Henry Nowak as he walked home from a night out on December 3 last year.Digwa was sentenced to life imprisonment in June and must serve a minimum of 21 years after being convicted of Henry’s murder.According to the prosecution, Digwa handed the 21cm knife to his mother shortly after the attack. She took it home, where police later recovered it from his bedroom alongside more than 20 ceremonial and other weapons during a search carried out seven days after the killing.Sentencing Kaur, Judge William Mousley KC said a responsible parent should have encouraged her son to face the consequences of his actions rather than help him avoid arrest. He told the court that placing the knife among other weapons had helped conceal its significance and was intended to prevent it from being linked to the murder.The case also prompted scrutiny of the police response to the stabbing. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary previously released body-worn camera footage, with Henry’s family’s permission, showing officers handcuffing the teenager as he lay critically injured after Digwa falsely claimed he had acted in self-defence following a racially motivated attack.The footage captured Henry repeatedly telling officers he had been stabbed and was struggling to breathe before he became unresponsive. An officer informed him he was under arrest for assault while he was lying on the ground.Two Hampshire and Isle of Wight police officers remain under investigation for potential gross misconduct over their actions at the scene.
