🔗 Share this article Individual Sentenced for At Least 23 Years for Murdering Syrian Boy in West Yorkshire Town A person has been jailed for life with a minimum period of 23 years for the murder of a teenage Syrian refugee after the teenager brushed past his partner in the center of Huddersfield. Trial Learns Details of Deadly Confrontation A Leeds courtroom learned how Alfie Franco, twenty, stabbed Ahmad Al Ibrahim, aged 16, not long after the young man brushed past the defendant's partner. He was found guilty of homicide on the fourth day of the week. The teenager, who had left conflict-ridden the city of Homs after being hurt in a bombing, had been residing in the West Yorkshire town for only a couple of weeks when he met Franco, who had been for a meeting at the job center that day and was intending to purchase eyelash glue with his girlfriend. Details of the Attack The trial heard that Franco – who had consumed weed, cocaine, diazepam, an anesthetic and a painkiller – took “a trivial issue” to the teenager “without malice” passing by his companion in the street. Surveillance tape showed the man saying something to the teenager, and summoning him after a quick argument. As the boy walked over, the individual unfolded the knife on a switchblade he was carrying in his trousers and drove it into the victim's neck. Trial Outcome and Sentencing The defendant denied murder, but was found guilty by a jury who took a little more than three hours to decide. He confessed to having a knife in a public place. While handing Franco his sentence on last Friday, the court judge said that upon observing the victim, Franco “marked him as a victim and enticed him to within your reach to attack before killing him”. He said his statement to have noticed a knife in the victim's belt was “a lie”. The judge said of Ahmad that “it is a testament to the medical personnel trying to save his life and his will to live he even reached the hospital with signs of life, but in reality his wounds were lethal”. Relatives Reaction and Statement Reciting a statement drafted by his relative Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, with help from his family, the prosecutor told the court that the teenager’s father had experienced cardiac arrest upon learning of the incident of his boy's killing, leading to an operation. “Words cannot capture the consequence of their heinous crime and the influence it had over the whole family,” the statement read. “The victim's mother still sobs over his clothes as they remind her of him.” The uncle, who said the boy was as close as a child and he felt remorseful he could not shield him, went on to explain that the victim had thought he had found “a peaceful country and the fulfilment of dreams” in Britain, but instead was “tragically removed by the senseless and unprovoked act”. “As Ahmad’s uncle, I will always carry the guilt that he had arrived in Britain, and I could not ensure his safety,” he said in a statement after the judgment. “Our beloved boy we care for you, we yearn for you and we will do for ever.” Background of the Victim The proceedings learned the victim had travelled for a quarter of a year to arrive in Britain from his home country, stopping in a refugee centre for young people in a city in Wales and attending college in the local college before relocating to West Yorkshire. The teenager had hoped to work as a medical professional, motivated partly by a wish to support his parent, who had a long-term health problem.