Bodycam footage released after the trial shows the final minutes of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, a student from Southampton, who was fatally stabbed in December 2025.
Police say 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa attacked Nowak in the city centre, using an eight-inch ceremonial dagger. The victim was stabbed multiple times and died shortly after officers arrived at the scene.
The footage, shown during the Crown Prosecution Service’s disclosure, captures officers’ interactions with Nowak as he pleaded for help. He can be heard saying “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe,” while officers at one point questioned whether he was injured and proceeded to handcuff him. Police later apologised for aspects of their handling of the incident.
Digwa told officers at the scene that Nowak had shouted racist abuse and had punched him; Digwa also said he had a bruised eye. During the trial Digwa argued that he carried the blade as part of his Sikh faith. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years.
Nowak’s family criticised the police response. His father, Mark Nowak, said Henry “did not die with dignity” and voiced outrage at what he described as different treatment afforded to Digwa during arrest and custody. The family praised Henry’s character; the sentencing judge described him as “careful and principled, full of humour, warmth and promise.”
Court evidence included material about Digwa’s interest in Sikh weaponry. Prosecutors said he kept a number of blades in the home he shared with his brother and that both men had been involved in teaching Gatka, a Sikh martial art; footage from 2023 shows Digwa performing demonstrations with ceremonial knives at a Sikh event. Local community sources and the court heard that he had an interest in antique ceremonial weapons.
The case has prompted calls for a review of exemptions that allow some Sikhs to carry religious blades. Hampshire’s police and crime commissioner, Donna Jones, said she intends to write to the Prime Minister to request a national review of laws covering bladed articles carried under religious exemptions.
The Sikh Federation responded that the blade used in the attack was not a kirpan, the small ceremonial dagger carried by many observant Sikhs, and warned that labelling the weapon as a kirpan had sparked unnecessary backlash against the Sikh community.
The incident has raised questions about police procedures, public safety, and how religious exemptions for carrying blades are regulated. Investigations and discussions involving police practice and legal frameworks for religiously carried bladed articles have been signalled in the wake of the sentencing.