Man who stabbed Syrian refugee, 16, was ‘cool as a cucumber’ before fatal blow

A man who stabbed a teenage Syrian refugee in the neck in a busy town centre was “cool as a cucumber” before he delivered the fatal blow, prosecutors have told a jury.

Ahmad Al Ibrahim, 16, died after being stabbed by Alfie Franco, 20, whose girlfriend he had just brushed past in the street in Huddersfield on April 3.

Prosecutors said Franco “appears to have taken some petty exception” to Ahmad possibly making some “minor contact” with his girlfriend after “innocuously” walking past her.

Leeds Crown Court jurors have heard there was a verbal altercation before Franco called Ahmad over to him and, as he approached, the defendant opened the blade on a flick knife he was carrying in his trousers and drove it into the boy’s neck.

Franco told the trial he thought he had seen Ahmad going for a weapon in his waistband and was acting in self-defence, fearing something was going to happen to him.

In his closing speech to jurors on Wednesday, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said that on CCTV footage of the incident Franco was “cool as a cucumber” and even “carried on eating his ice cream” during the verbal altercation before the stabbing.

Mr Wright said before Ahmad, who was unarmed, had even started walking back towards him, Franco had taken the concealed flick knife from his trousers and moved it into his pocket, all while keeping it hidden.

He told jurors: “That’s why he’s cool as a cucumber, because he knows something – he knows he’s got a savage, flick knife ready to strike when this young lad gets within striking distance.

“We say self-defence doesn’t even get off the ground in this case.

“This is a case of a young man with a cocky swagger, wandering around town with his girlfriend, on drugs, who doesn’t like the fact that Ahmad has spoken back to him.”

After Ahmad’s death, his family said he came to the UK after being injured in a bombing to live with his uncle and dreamed of becoming a doctor, “wanting to heal others after all he had endured”.

They said: “He chose to come to the UK because he believed in the values of human rights, safety, and dignity… he had just begun settling into his new life with his uncle, adjusting to a new language, a new home, and a future he was excited to build.

“Ahmad was kind, gentle, and carried so much promise. Losing him has left an unimaginable emptiness in our hearts.

“We never thought that the place he saw as a safe haven would be where his life would end.”

Franco denies murder but has admitted a charge of possessing a knife in a public place.

The trial continues.