Harrowing bodycam footage shows the moment police dismissed student Henry Nowak’s cries for help after he was stabbed to death with a Sikh ceremonial knife.
The 18-year-old student died after Vickrum Digwa carried out a brutal knife attack, which included two stab wounds to the back of Nowak’s legs and a fatal wound to his heart, on 3 December 2025.
Newly released video filmed as police arrived at the incident shows Digwa claiming he had been racially assaulted by Nowak, as his victim lay bleeding on the floor.
In the chilling footage, Nowak can be heard telling officers: “I’ve been stabbed”. One replies: “I don’t think you have mate”.
Officers then proceed to handcuff Nowak and arrest him on suspicion of assault while Digwa claims to have a bruised eye.
Nowak can then be heard repeating: “I can’t breathe” as officers around him continue to deny that he has been stabbed. He died shortly after.
The 18-year-old’s family said the police’s actions were “inhumane” and called the contrast between their treatment of Nowak and his murderer “unbearable”.
Digwa was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 21 years, at Southampton Crown Court on Monday.
During his trial he told jurors he had been racially attacked by Nowak, who he accused of punching him and knocking his turban off.
He claimed he had stabbed Nowak in the back of his legs in self-defence after Nowak had threatened him and grabbed him by the hair, and said that he had not realised at the time that he had caused the fatal stab wound to Nowak’s chest.
But prosecutors said the 23-year-old had told a “wicked lie” to police and that Nowak did not racially assault him.
Digwa was filmed by his victim as he told him “I am a bad man” moments before unleashing the fatal attack.
The police have since apologised for handcuffing Nowak.
Spekaing outside court following the sentencing, Mark Nowak said police have serious questions to answer over the way they treated his son.
“Henry told officers that he could not breathe nine times,” he said. “He told them he had been stabbed four times. Let me be absolutely clear. We hold Vikrum Digwa solely and 100 per cent responsible for the brutal murder of our son, but Henry should not have died on the streets of Southampton in police custody.
“The way he was treated was inhumane and degrading. His murderer however, was afforded decency. The contrast is unbearable.”
In court on Monday, Mark Nowak broke down in tears as he read his victim impact statement to the court in which he described the family’s devastation at the loss of his “beautiful son”.
He said: “As a father, it is my job to protect my child and I failed to keep him safe, I was not there when he needed me most, the thought of him lying in the road, scared, bleeding to death will haunt me forever.”
Henry’s mother Lucy described her son as “ambitious, determined and full of life”.
“He had his whole life ahead of him, that future has been cruelly taken away,” she said.
“The impact of his loss has been devastating not only for me but for our entire family and for all who knew him, we are learning to support one another through this unimaginable grief, but the pain is constant, our family will never be the same.”
