A drug-fuelled knifeman who stabbed a 16-year-old Syrian refugee to death in an unprovoked attack has been found guilty of murder.
Ahmad Al Ibrahim, 16, died after being stabbed by Alfie Franco, after he brushed past the killer’s pregnant girlfriend on a busy shopping street in Huddersfield on April 3.
The 20-year-old, who had a fascination with knives, fatally attacked the unarmed youngster who had fled war-torn Syria after a brief verbal altercation.
Leeds Crown Court was told Franco had ‘taken some petty exception’ to Ahmad possibly making ‘minor contact’ with his girlfriend as he ‘innocuously’ walked past.
The murderer, who was high on a cocktail of cannabis, cocaine and ketamine, plunged a previously concealed flick knife 6cm deep into Ahmad’s neck.
During the brutal attack, Franco cut the teen’s jugular vein, larynx, trachea and carotid artery causing immediate and massive blood loss.
A jury was shown harrowing CCTV footage of the unprovoked attack against Ahmad, who had fled war-torn Syria hoping to find safety in the UK.
Ahmad Al Ibrahim, 16, (pictured) died after being stabbed by Alfie Franco, whose pregnant girlfriend he had brushed past on a busy shopping street in Huddersfield on April 3
Franco, (pictured) who had a fascination with knives, fatally attacked the unarmed youngster who had fled war-torn Syria after a brief verbal altercation
During the trial, it was heard Franco had several knives as well as a video on his mobile phone of him playing with the £15 knife he used to kill Ahmad.
He had captioned a photograph of his knife collection ‘Artillery coming along nice’, and just 17 hours before the attack boasted to friends of plans of stabbing someone.
Prosecuting, Richard Wright KC, told the jury how Franco referenced his weapons in a chat by saying ‘I’ve got my tings’.
‘They then discussed going to the house of their target when Franco said he would creep round the back and “Ching” him.’
Ching is a slang term for stab. The prosecution added how Franco also said, ‘anything happens I’ll chef him in the shoulder’.
‘Alfie Franco is a young man with a keen interest in possessing, carrying and using deadly weapons for offensive not defensive purposes,’ Mr Wright said.
‘Just as he did the very next day when he stabbed Ahmad in the neck for no good reason.’
During a trial on Tuesday, Franco said he stabbed the 16-year-old because he was ‘scared something was going to happen’ to him.
When asked why he took the knife with him, he said he had the weapon because he had been in altercations and had ‘heard things that happen in town.’
‘I just wanted to have it with me… to keep me safe,’ he told jurors.
The jury took just three hours and 11 minutes to find Franco guilty of Ahmad’s murder.
Franco, of Kirkburton, near Huddersfield, admitted a charge of possessing a knife in a public place.
He will be sentenced by Judge Howard Crowson tomorrow afternoon.
