The murderer of Henry Nowak, the student whose death sparked riots in Southampton, is seen lying to police officers about being racially attacked in newly released bodyworn camera footage.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years this month for stabbing the 18-year-old five times in December last year.
When police arrived at the murder scene in Southampton, Digwa falsely claimed Nowak had racially abused him and knocked his turban off, causing officers to arrest and handcuff the student before they saw his fatal injuries.
The series of lies told by Digwa minutes after he had fatally stabbed the university student have been exposed in the footage seen for the first time on Friday.
In the police footage, Digwa tells officers that Nowak obtained his bloody wounds either from a “punch” or because he “fell over” while climbing on bins.
He can be heard lying to police about being racially attacked by Nowak, who he claims was “obviously drunk”. He claims Nowak attacked him and pulled his turban off.
Digwa was not handcuffed when he was arrested for attempted murder in the footage, though Nowak had been handcuffed by the same officers minutes before.
When Digwa complains in the footage about having been “racially attacked” as he is arrested, an officer tells him: “I know, I know, I know.”
In the footage, Digwa’s father, Moga Singh, can be heard telling police: “My son’s just been assaulted. The gentleman that’s on the floor assaulted my son.”
Digwa then says: “He pushed my turban off my head and started grabbing my hair. So I’m a Sikh, obviously, and he started grabbing my hair and dragging me around.
“My brother’s seen it, stopped it, and that’s where he’s then started stumbling around, started climbing around all these bits and bobs and stuff like that.
“Literally I saw him from there and from the get go I said look mate, you clearly are obviously drunk, I said to him just carry on with your day, and he started escalating, calling me a Paki and all that stuff.
“And this isn’t the first time that we’ve had something like this happen here. We’ve lived here since I was four and five and I’ve had it recently.”
When police ask him to move, he says: “Do you mind if we turn the flashes off, sorry? Can we move over here then so it’s not in my eyes?”
They move again and Digwa continues: “This isn’t the first time we’ve had altercations. Not even altercations, we’ve had people racially attack us during the morning.”
An officer asks: “Do you know how he’s got that wound then?”
Digwa responds: “What wound, sorry?”
The officer says: “Well you said he’s got blood on him, how’s he … how’s he …?”
Digwa replies: “It must have been when we punched him. Must have been when we punched him. But he did fall over here, so he was climbing all over these bins and stuff like that and then he’s fell over and landed on to that car.”
When the police officer finally arrests Digwa, the murderer pleads: “What do you mean ‘attempted murder’? Why am I getting arrested?”
The arresting police officer says Digwa has “his side of the story” but that the police don’t know what has happened so they need to find out.
The officer adds: “I’m not saying you’ve done anything, mate.”
Digwa says: “Mate, I’ve been racially attacked.” To which the officer responds “I know, I know, I know.”
When the judge William Mousley KC sentenced Digwa, he told him: “I am sure that Henry had said nothing racist. You are the only person to make that claim and it is completely at odds with his previous character.”
It was put forward by the prosecution that footage from before the police arrived showed Digwa with his turban on his head, and it was suggested that Digwa had taken it off himself in an attempt to seem like the victim.
Nowak had started recording Digwa when he saw the man carrying an eight-inch Sikh ceremonial blade. That footage has never been released publicly.
Digwa’s lies led to Nowak being arrested and handcuffed while he was dying. Nowak exclaimed “I can’t breathe” as he was handcuffed while dying.
The revelation that Nowak had been handcuffed and falsely accused of racism led to violence in Southampton, and 25 rioters were charged with violent disorder.
Hampshire constabulary is under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the arrest.