Murder accused feared Sikh blade attack, jury told

A Sikh man fatally stabbed a university student in the street because he feared being attacked with his own Sikh blade, a court has heard.

Henry Nowak, 18, from Chafford Hundred, Essex, was killed as he walked back from a night out in Southampton on 3 December.

Vickrum Digwa, 23, told Southampton Crown Court Nowak was drunk and "barged" into him as they met at night on a pavement, leading to a violent altercation.

The defendant, who denies murder and carrying a knife in public, said he used his kirpan after Nowak punched him and pulled his hair.

Digwa told the jury: "I thought I had to do something because I was afraid that he was going to stab me with my own kirpan."

Previously, the court heard the defendant was carrying a 21cm (8in) blade in a sheath around his neck in Belmont Road at about 23:30 GMT.

He told the court he was walking to fetch some curried chips from a car when he met Nowak coming the other way.

"To me, it seemed like he was drunk," the defendant said.

"He barged into me. I thought he had done it deliberately.

"Henry Nowak then turned around and said to me: 'You could have moved up a little bit more.'"

Digwa said the victim used a racially offensive term before adding: "Do you think you're a bad man? I'm from Essex. You don't know what people from Essex are on."

Nowak started to video the defendant with a phone, in footage seen by the jury.

"I went to block the phone. I've grabbed it as well," Digwa continued.

"This is when he punched me... He then pulled my turban, he pulled it off my head.

"As I'm bent over, he started saying: 'I'm going to [expletive] you up, I'm going to kill you.'

"I felt like he was going to use my kirpan on me."

Digwa told the court he did not mean to stab Nowak in the chest when he pushed him away and cried when he heard of his death.

Visibly emotional, the defendant told the court: "I'm sorry that it happened".

Previously, the court heard the University of Southampton first year student was walking back to his accommodation from a night out, after drinking to a level below the drink-drive limit.

Jurors were told the attack, which resulted in five stab wounds or cuts, was not witnessed and Nowak tried to escape by climbing over a fence.

Police initially handcuffed the victim before discovering his fatal injury a short time later, the court previously heard.

Digwa, of St Denys Road, Southampton, said he did not tell police he had stabbed Nowak because he was "scared".

His mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, is also on trial and denies assisting an offender by removing a weapon from the murder scene.

The trial continues.