Henry Nowak’s father, Mark, told a court today that he would trade places with his son “in a heartbeat” after he was brutally murdered by weapons-obsessed Vickrum Digwa
The father of a student stabbed to death by a knife fanatic said he was “tormented” by the thought of his son’s final moments.
Weapons-obsessed Vickrum Digwa, 23, was jailed for 21 years for murdering Henry Nowak, 18, in a sustained street attack. The Sikh killer spun a “wicked lie” claiming he acted in self defence after Henry used a racist insult, punched him and knocked his turban off.
Police, unaware of Henry’s five stab wounds, handcuffed him even though he had been heard saying: “I’m going to die.” Prosecutors blasted Digwa’s callous lie, saying it left Henry to die “alone, humiliated and handcuffed”. Henry’s father, Mark, came face-to-face with Digwa while reading an emotional victim impact statement at Southampton Crown Court today.
Mark said he would be haunted forever by his son’s murder and can’t get “the thought of him lying in the road bleeding” out of his head. He said: “I’ve always been the person who fixes things for my family… In this nightmare I am completely helpless.” He said Henry “did nothing wrong” and that he was a good boy who loved sport, was kind, popular and well-liked by his school teachers.
He added: “If I could swap places with Henry… I would do so in a heartbeat. To my dying son, who I love beyond words, I’m so sorry that I let this happen.” Sentencing him to life in prison, Judge William Mousley KC said: “You, Vickram Digwa, murdered him. By doing so, you robbed him of all those he loved, all the things he cared about and liked to do.”
He added: “You have brought misery and a lifetime of loss upon his family and great sadness to everyone who knew him. You have brought shame upon your family and your religion. Your actions have stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country which have made many Sikhs worried about their safety.”
Finance student Henry was on his way home from a night out in Southampton, Hampshire, when Digwa stabbed him multiple times on December 3, 2025. At the time of Henry’s murder, Digwa was carrying two traditional knives – a small kirpan around his neck and the longer, 21cm one he used to stab the 18-year-old.
Judge Mousley said carrying knives is not a “strict requirement” of Sikhism as neither Digwa’s brother nor father arrived at the scene that night with them. Mousley said it is a “privilege” that brings a “huge responsibility” to be able to wear the knives in public, which is allowed under the law in particular circumstances.
He added it is a “symbol of religious faith and is never to be carried for an offensive purpose”. The attacker was heard saying “I’m a bad man” moments before the attack on “defenceless” Henry. In a final “intrusive and humiliating” act, Digwa filmed the dying teen as he tried to flee over a fence.
Prosecutors described Digwa a “man with a weapons obsession”. Nicholas Lobbenberg KC said: “The defendant is a man skilled with weapons, he trained with weapons, sleeps in a room with weapons, he searches for weapons on his phone. What he had was a weapon, ready and available for his use.”
He also said that “labelling Henry as a racist, drunk, violent aggressor compounds the natural grief and loss of the deceased’s family”. The prosecution told Southampton crown court he had used racism “as his trump card to try to make sure what he had done was lawful. We say that was a wicked lie.” The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating.
Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was found guilty of assisting an offender by hiding the blade and will be sentenced in July. Henry’s family said he “would not tolerate racism, sexism or bullying”. Olivia Nowak, Henry’s 21-year-old sister, said her “world fell apart” on the day she was told that her brother – who she describes as her “first best friend” – was killed.
She said: “The bond we had was broken from someone else’s decision.” She said there are “no words to describe the pain” of hearing Henry was dead and she has “lost a lot of myself” since. “My brother should not be forever 18, he deserved to grow old and start a family of his own,” she said.
Addressing Vickrum Digwa directly, Olivia said: “If you had known Henry, you would never have hurt him.” Lucy Ross, Henry’s mother, described the pain of Henry’s death as being “beyond anything I knew existed”.
She said: “Our family will never be the same. We’re trying to find a way to live with this as our new normal. But nothing about it feels normal.” Jeremy Wainwright KC, defending Digwa, said: “He did not go out that night with the intention to commit anything at all. This incident clearly happened very quickly and very unexpectedly.”
Following the case, Hampshire’s temporary Deputy Chief Constable Robert France said officers had been lied to. He added: “I’m sorry Henry couldn’t be saved. I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested in the moments before he lost consciousness.” Digwa was guilty of murder after a two-week trial at Southampton Crown Court.
