The mother of Henry Nowak’s killer Vickrum Digwa has been sentenced to three years in prison for removing a knife from the scene of the murder.
Kiran Kaur, 53, was earlier found guilty of assisting an offender. She was sentenced on Friday at the Southampton Crown Court.
Digwa, 23, stabbed Mr Nowak, a finance student, to death with a Sikh ceremonial knife on a Southampton street on 3 December 2025. Kaur then took the knife back to the family home.
Sentencing Kaur, Judge William Mousley KC said: “A responsible parent would have challenged their son over their actions and encourage them to do the right thing.
“Instead you took the knife home and put it with a larger collection of ceremonial and other weapons in your son’s bedroom. That would have helped to conceal what it had been used for.”
During Digwa’s murder trial, it emerged that he had lied to police about the events leading up to the stabbing, falsely claiming that Mr Nowak had racially abused him.
Anger erupted after a police body-worn video was released showing Mr Nowak, 18, being placed in handcuffs moments before he became unconscious and subsequently died.
Two Hampshire police officers involved in the arrest are now under investigation for potential gross misconduct.
Digwa was sentenced in June to life in prison, with a minimum term of 21 years, for Mr Nowak’s murder.
The sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal as “unduly lenient” by the Solicitor General, Ellie Reeves, in June.
The Court of Appeal has also announced that Digwa is aiming to appeal against his conviction and sentence.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge William Mousley KC said that the killer showed a “callous disregard” for Mr Nowak’s wellbeing by continuing to make films of him suffering and “ignoring much of his desperation at having been stabbed”.
The judge continued: “You told him that had not happened, no doubt to convince others who were nearby.
“Your brother did much the same, although he may just have been accepting that which you had told him, rather than lying himself.
“You lied to him that you had been attacked, picking up on his question about whether it had been accompanied by racism by falsely claiming that Henry had called you a ‘Paki’.
“I am sure that Henry had said nothing racist.”
Digwa, his brother and his father have also been charged with multiple weapons offences.
They appeared in court earlier in July, where they pleaded not guilty to all the charges, including possessing 37 swords, flick-knives, an axe and eight knuckledusters.
Digwa appeared by videolink from HMP Frankland at Southampton Magistrates’ Court.
All of the offences are dated 4 December 2025 – the day after the murder of Mr Nowak.
The trio will go to trial in September 2027.
