Police have released bodycam footage of the arrest of a victim of an attack: 18-year-old Henry Nowak who died after being attacked and stabbed five times by a Sikh man using a religious ceremonial knife.
Warning: the footage will be distressing for viewers.
Yesterday, Mr Nowak’s father, Mark, said that the contrast between how the police treated his son, Henry, and his murderer, Vickrum Digwa, was unbearable.
Henry Nowak was arrested despite being stabbed in an attack after Digwa lied and claimed he had racially abused him, knocked his turban off, and assaulted him.
Henry’s father said that his son “had not died with dignity” and “should not have died on the streets of Southampton in police custody”.
He added: “His murderer, however, was afforded decency. He was believed. He was not handcuffed when arrested.”
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary have apologised for the treatment of the murdered 18-year-old university student, whose pleas were ignored as he was dragged across gravel and handcuffed by police just moments before he died.
There had been widespread calls for police bodycam footage of the arrest to be released.
Despite being told that Henry Nowak is bleeding, a police officer approaches the student as he is lying face down on a gravel driveway, and refuse to believe him when he says he has been stabbed.
“I have been stabbed”, Mr Nowak tells the police officer – but is told: “You’ve been stabbed, mate? I don’t think you have.”
The young student repeatedly tells officers that he has been stabbed and that he can’t breathe as they cuff him.
The footage shows the arresting officer asking for Henry’s name, before reading him his rights as he died.
The case has shocked Britain and led to claims that a two-tier or ‘woke’ policing system is leading to an erosion of public trust. Today, Reform’s Nigel Farage said the bodycam video was “the most shocking footage of discrimination that you will ever see”.
“A white boy being handcuffed by police officers more concerned by an accusation of racism than an act of murder. This must be a turning point. White lives matter too,” he said.
FAMILY CARRY GRIEF ‘EVERY SINGLE DAY’
Yesterday, the family of the murdered student spoke publicly after Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life in prison, for a minimum of 21 years, for using a 8in blade he said he carried as part of his Sikh faith to stab Henry Nowak in Southampton in December.
Henry’s family said they will carry their grief “every single day” for the rest of their lives – and described their son’s treatment by police as “inhumane and degrading”.
Henry’s older sister, Olivia Nowak, said her brother was her “best friend” and that they had “an unbreakable bond” in a statement to the court about how his death.
“The day we got the knock on the door to say my brother had passed, I don’t think there are any words to describe that type of pain. A lot of myself died when he died,” she said.
“Henry was the most wonderful, funny, handsome, kind, precious, smart boy. He lit every room he walked in.”
“As the eldest of four siblings, watching my younger brothers and sisters grieve the loss of their big brother is a pain layered on top of my own.”
“Whenever I’m having a hard day, the only place I want to be is at Henry’s grave.”
“It is the place where the reality of his loss hits the hardest but the only place I am close to him.”
“I feel sad for those who never got to experience life with Henry, even though it was short. If you had known Henry, you would never had hurt him.”
A statement written by Henry’s mother, Lucy Ross, was read out by prosecutors.
She said: “Being told that your son has died is something no one can ever truly comes to terms with. The circumstances were so tragic and unimaginable that the pain is beyond anything I knew existed.”
Describing Henry as “ambitious, determined, and full of life” and said “there will always be a hole in our hearts that can never be repaired”. She spoke of the “immense pride” her elderly parents had felt when Henry became the first of their grandchildren to go to university.
Katie Woodcock, Henry’s stepmother, told the court that she replayed the horrors of that night when they were told that Henry had been killed ‘over and over again’.
She said that Henry’s father, Mark, was left “unable to stand” and that his “raw, unfiltered sobs” echoed through the house after the police told them Henry had been stabbed and had died.
She said that when she had gone to clear out Henry’s room at university and found his advent calendar with only the first three doors open, “that broke me”.