Henry Nowak

[rolloverbeethoven]

Heard of him? Probably not, because there seems to be an almost complete news blackout about him. Basically the police handcuffed him and let him bleed out because they thought he may have said something racist - he didn't, it was a lie told by his murderer. Henry was 18.

This … with bells on

It must be beyond torture for his parents and family to imagine.

Same- in his dying moments he was left to die, regarded as the offender, instead of being held and comforted

You have said what I was feeling.

His Dad said this ""He told officers he could not breathe NINE TIMES, he said he had been stabbed FOUR TIMES, but the officer replied saying' 'I don't think you have, mate.'"

Enormously dignified speech from his father who has asked for his son’s death not to sow division.

I am so distressed for them, not just the agony of losing a child but knowing how scared he must have been in his final moments.

Positive discrimination

Wouldn’t take the word of a judge as gospel simply because they're a judge. Another judge could have a different interpretation. There is clearly some level of wrongdoing here, but Digwa’s trial wasn’t the place for that to be examined in detail, presumably.

Also Henry said he’d been stabbed (not only that he can’t breathe), so their flippant/taunting remark to him is going to be hard to explain.

The police handcuffed a man that had been accused of assault. Then (1 minute later) they realised he was more severely injured than first appeared, and reacted appropriately. They couldn't save him, but they didn't cause his death.

The judge has stated the facts. An investigation has started to determine whether the police acted correctly. What qualifies you to preempt the outcome of that?

And let’s not forget dragging him across the floor. They seemed to treat him with complete contempt.

But the police didn't handcuff the murderer at any point- not when he was arrested on suspicion of murder, not when he was being transported to the police station. Have you listened to the father's statement outside court? They only handcuffed Henry Nowak as he died. While he told them nine times that he couldn't breathe. I'm baffled at how you see any way to defend the police in this.

His mother by hiding the knife is absolutely complicit in the murder by not revealing Henry need lifesaving medical attention. And as for Sikhs being allowed to carry ceremonial knives on their person is simply outrageous. I would also be interested to find out the religion and race of the police officers to see if that’s in any way pertinent to their attitude towards Henry and their shocking leniency towards the murderer. Or if the police were just massively incompetent. To not double check whether someone has actually been stabbed in order to help them if need be is manslaughter is it not when you’re in a position to do by the very nature of your job to protect and serve.

I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe

I've been stabbed
I've been stabbed
I've been stabbed
I've been stabbed

The only way the police can excuse their behavior is if they were blind and deaf.

Who the fuck are you to defend this?
Sick.

Do the police not have torches? How could they miss the blood?

I honestly don’t know what to think about the apologists on this thread…

They didn’t handcuff the murderer even once they saw Henry’s wounds. It’s a catastrophic catalogue of errors on their part.

Should the laws about carrying weapons not come before religious beliefs?

Definitely! Surprised nothing has been done before!

Absolutely they should. Let's hope the law is reviewed in light of this. Other countries don't allow sikhs to carry their knives I don't think we should either.

The judgement is actually extremely concerning about the knife carrying. I'd always been under the impression that a kirpan had to be very small, and normally would be blunt and purely ceremonial. In the judgement, the judge says this is not necessarily the case- that Digwa is member of a sect called the Nihang, who carry two knives, with one knife allowed to be carried in view. And the knives don't need to be either blunt nor short (the judgement says anything up to 9 inches in length is legally allowable). Also that increasing numbers of young Sikhs are carrying knives in view as a mark of their culture, which they believe is under threat.

All of this is massively different to what I thought, and very, very worrying. The point the judge made about the Nihang sect carrying two knives was used by him to say that Digwa carrying a large, sharpened knife, on full view (late at night, let's not forget) was not in itself a problem, and so could not be used as an aggravating factor.

How many more lives have to be taken before the government stop all this madness??? Religion is NOT above the law.
Why was this man allowed to carry a knife? I had no idea that was even a thing… absolute madness.

The police who handcuffed Henry need sacking as there's just no excuse for what they did. You just can’t imagine how Henry was feeling in that moment, dying, needing help…and they handcuff him. And his poor parents knowing their son was not helped or believed in his last moments must be absolutely traumatic for them.

How many more people have to get stabbed, raped, killed before common sense prevails?? We need to stop pandering to different religions and the law needs to be the law - NO Exceptions!

The judge's sentencing remarks are here, by the way:
Digwa Final Sentencing Remarks
It's truly a bizarre read- very much not in a good way.

Someone on here said they resigned soon afterwards

Restore are 12 - 1 to be the biggest party in the next parliament. That's Restore not Reform. These cases just play into their hands.

Which is exactly why both the judge and Sikh associations have said Digwa disgraced his religion.