Indian woman jailed in UK for hiding weapon to save son in murder case

LONDON: An Indian-origin woman has been jailed in the UK for hiding the weapon to save her son, an accused in a murder case. Kiran Kaur (53), mother of Vickrum Digwa (23), a Sikh youth accused of murdering 18-year-old Henry Nowak in Southampton, has been sentenced to three years in prison. The sentence was awarded by Southampton Crown Court. The charge against Kiran is that she removed the knife used in the murder from the spot of the crime and destroyed the evidence.

The incident happened on December 3 last year. Vikram stabbed Henry to death as he was walking home. Vikram was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case. However, the case is under consideration by the Court of Appeal on the complaint that the sentence was lenient.

The investigation team had found that the knife that Vikram handed over to Kiran after the murder was hidden among other weapons kept in her son's room. In addition to the knife, there were more than twenty weapons in the room. The knife was recovered by investigators a week after the murder.

Henry, from Chafford Hundred in Essex, was a first-year student at Southampton University. He was walking back to his accommodation from a pub.

The police found that the youth was stabbed five times. It is reported that Vikram and Henry bumped into each other while walking and that an argument ensued, leading to the murder.

Vikram lied to police that Henry had racially abused him and that he had stabbed him in self-defence. The police, believing this, handcuffed Henry, who was struggling to survive and he died later. This led to nationwide protests. Police officers later publicly apologized for the incident.