A court has heard a 15-year-old boy accused of murdering a pensioner in a park wrote a letter claiming to be suffering flashbacks, saying he hated what he had done and adding “I feel like my case is evil”.
Leicester Crown Court was told the youth, who denies the murder and manslaughter of Bhim Kohli, also wrote “I accept I did it and I am doing time” and “I kinda just needed anger etc releasing” in the letter to his intervention worker.
The teenager and a girl aged 13 are both on trial in connection with the death of 80-year-old Bhim Kohli, who died in hospital a day after suffering a broken neck and three broken ribs in Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, near Leicester.
Bhim Kohli died in September last year (Leicestershire Police/PA)
The court has heard Mr Kohli was racially abused before he was slapped in the face with a shoe by the boy, while the girl filmed the attack on September 1 last year.
Details of the letter were read to jurors on Tuesday, shortly after the panel viewed a video clip in which the girl allegedly laughed as she filmed a separate victim being chased across grassland and racially abused.
The video clip recovered from the girl’s iCloud account, filmed on an unknown date before August 3 last year, showed the unidentified victim being hit from behind, having something thrown over him and then running away as he was called a “little Paki bastard”.
The letter, written by the boy to a woman who had worked with him at the residential unit where he was being looked after at the end of October last year, was read to the jury by junior prosecution counsel.
It read: “I f****** hate what I did. I regret it so much. I have flashbacks of that day and it just upsets me.
“I just want my freedom or even to go back and not do it.
Police in Franklin Park, Leicester, last September (Jacob King/PA)
“I feel like my case is evil. I ain’t that type of person. I kinda just needed anger etc releasing.”
The letter went on to address the boy’s view of his own mental health, the court heard, adding: “I feel like I have let my mum down so much. I am nervous, well scared and worried.
“I accept I did it and I am doing time. I am just scared about how long I have to do.
“I get upset at little things and sometimes little things can affect my mood and my whole day. I actually feel like I f***** up everything by coming here. Life’s f****** hard. I ain’t depressed but I ain’t really happy a lot of the time.
“I have always got shit on my mind. For now I’m just f****** stressed and worried about court, like my plea.”
Neither of the defendants can be identified because of their age.
The trial has been adjourned until Tuesday next week.