Overview
- The fatal confrontation on December 3, 2025 left 18‑year‑old university student Henry Nowak dead and led to murder and knife‑possession charges against 23‑year‑old Vickrum Digwa and an assisting‑offender charge for his mother, Kiran Kaur.
- Jurors were sent to deliberate after Judge William Mousley directed they consider an alternative manslaughter verdict and Digwa entered a not guilty plea to that count following closing arguments.
- Prosecutors relied on phone video, police body‑worn camera footage and forensic tests that link blood and tissue to a roughly 21cm blade prosecutors say was larger than a religious kirpan.
- The prosecution told jurors Digwa used allegations of racist abuse to deflect blame and argued multiple stab wounds show he must have known his victim would die, while the defence says Digwa stabbed in self‑defence after assault and turban removal and did not intend a fatal chest wound.
- The judge told jurors that carrying a blade of that size requires a 'good reason' and placed on Digwa the legal burden to prove on the balance of probabilities that his reason was lawful, a ruling that makes jurors’ credibility findings decisive for the verdict and for how kirpan exemptions are applied in practice.