News, Leicester
“Why should we be pushed out? Why should we allow these two children to push us out of where my dad once loved, where we love?”
The words of Susan Kohli, whose 80-year-old father Bhim Kohli died after being racially abused and brutally attacked at a park just yards from the family home in Braunstone, Leicestershire.
A 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl were both found guilty of Mr Kohli’s manslaughter and were sentenced earlier this month.
Speaking to the , Mrs Kohli admitted she had discussed with her mother the idea of moving away from the area – but questioned why it should be them that has to leave their community.
SuppliedThe boy was sentenced to seven years in custody while the girl was given a three-year youth rehabilitation order and made subject to a six-month curfew, which Mrs Kohli said was “unanswerable”.
“In the last nine months, there has been a lot of talk between me and my mum because the incident happened literally on our doorstep,” she said.
“So whenever you walk out the door, it’s a constant reminder of what happened to dad.
“We’ve had these discussions about do we stay? Do we go?”
The attack on Mr Kohli happened as he walked his dog, Rocky, in Franklin Park on 1 September last year. He died a day later in hospital.
The boy racially abused Mr Kohli before slapping him in the face with a slider shoe, while the girl encouraged the assault and laughed as she filmed it on her phone.
Neither can be named because of their ages.
Mrs Kohli said her neighbours had been “amazing” and “so supportive” in the difficult months since.
“And that’s where we feel, will we get the same neighbours when you move away?” she said.
“It’s the people that’s keeping us there. It’s the people and it’s the memories.
“It is just the fact that all of my dad’s memories are there.
“They will always be in our heart.”
Despite this, Mrs Kohli feels there are questions to be answered in their community following her father’s death.
Earlier this month it was revealed that Mr Kohli had spoken to police just two weeks before his death after seeing another Asian man being assaulted by two white boys, who threw a large rock at him.
Mrs Kohli added: “We need to call out whenever these issues are happening. We need to face it. And if we don’t, it is just going to continue.”
Leicestershire Police said “organisational learning” to improve logging anti-social behaviour had been identified.
The force added it had undertaken an investigation, reviewed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which did not identify any “misconduct or missed opportunities which could have prevented Mr Kohli’s death”.
