A 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl have been found guilty of killing an 80-year-old dog walker who was filmed being assaulted before his death. The six-week trial heard Bhim Kohli, 80, was injured and racially abused just yards from his home in Franklin Park, near Leicester on September 1 last year. Speaking alongside members of Bhim Kohli’s family on the steps of Leicester Crown Court after the manslaughter verdicts, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Sinski said: “The circumstances surrounding this case are truly tragic and heartbreaking. Report by Faragt. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00The circumstances surrounding this case are truly tragic and heartbreaking.
00:05On that warm summer evening of Sunday the 1st of September last year,
00:09Mr Coley was simply doing what he did every day,
00:12walking his dog on the park just a few yards from his home address.
00:17But instead of being able to enjoy an evening stroll with his dog Rocky,
00:21he was confronted by a teenage boy,
00:24who, with the encouragement of the girl he was with,
00:26attacked an 80-year-old man,
00:30a defenceless man, and left him in agony on the floor.
00:35Sadly, those injuries proved fatal,
00:38and Mr Coley died in a hospital the following day.
00:42His death has left not only a family grieving the loss
00:46of a beloved husband, father and grandfather,
00:51but wider community too.
00:52My dad was brutally and cruelly taken away from us
00:56when he was walking our dog Rocky in the park place of our home.
01:00He was a devoted life partner to my mum for 55 years.
01:06He was a loving dad, granddad, brother and uncle,
01:09a retired businessman,
01:10and a close friend to many,
01:12including people who lived in our local community.
01:16He was an amazing man who loved life.
01:20He never took himself seriously.
01:23He was good fun to be around and very chatty.
01:26Despite his age and how afraid he looked,
01:29he was healthy and very active.
01:32He had the free allotment plots
01:33where he grew lots of fruit and vegetables
01:36and would share them with family, friends and neighbours.
01:41He was the person who knitted our family together
01:44and we miss him every second of every day.
01:48Our home feels so empty without him
01:51and will never be the same.
01:54Every time my mum opens the front door,
01:56she thinks about what happened to her husband.
02:00Listening to the enormity of what happened,
02:03what dad was subjected to,
02:06will never leave us.
02:07We feel angry and disgust towards the teenagers
02:11who took dad away from us.
02:13They humiliated him.
02:15An 80-year-old man assaulted him,
02:18filmed it and laughed at him.
02:21Dad did not deserve this
02:22and we wouldn't wish this on anyone else.