Henry Nowak’s murderer admitted to his brother in the back of a police van that he stabbed the university student, transcripts released today show.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was in the back of a prison van for hours with his brother Gurpreet Digwa, 27, when he admitted that he had stabbed Henry.
He had previously lied to police at the scene, saying he had been ‘racially attacked’, but less than two days later, he admitted to stabbing the 18-year-old student.
The pair of brothers was overheard discussing how they would describe the murder weapon throughout the legal process and said a prayer.
A transcript of Digwa and Gurpreet’s exchange in the back of the police van has now been revealed. The original conversation was in Punjabi but has now been translated into English.
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Gurpreet told his brother: ‘You defended yourself or acted in self-defence. You should have hit him or beaten him up. Why did you use Kirpan?’
Digwa replied: ‘I am a fool – idiot.’
Earlier in the conversation, Gupreet was asking his brother what he did to Nowak.
Digwa replied while motioning to his chest: ‘One here (pointing towards the shoulder), towards the face and one on the chest. He was 18 years of age.’
Gurpreet then said an almost-three-minute-long Ardaas – a traditional Sikh prayer that serves as an appeal to God for protection.
His prayer ended with the line: ‘We have not done anything wrong, God, please have mercy on us and protect us. Save all of us from here and get us home safely. Bless us with happiness. Bless Gurpreet Singh, Vickrum Singh, Kiran Kaur.’
Digwa, Gurpreet and their father, Moga Singh, 52, have been charged with a string of weapons possession offences.
They have all denied the offences and are set to go on trial in September 2027.
Southampton Crown Court previously heard, during his murder trial, that Digwa kept an arsenal of Sikh knives in the bedroom that he shared with his brother.
Digwa, who is ‘skilled’ with weapons as he has trained with them from a young age, used a kirpan to murder Henry, a finance student, on his way home from a night out by stabbing him five times, with a fatal 8cm deep wound to his chest.
The Nihang Sikh even filmed his victim as he tried to escape by jumping over a fence in Southampton, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Digwa told ‘wicked lies’ of a racist attack to the police when they arrived to get Henry handcuffed and arrested while he was dying.
Henry, studying at the University of Southampton, died around 57 minutes after he was handcuffed.
Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was found guilty of assisting an offender after she took the blade from her son at the scene and ran to hide it with the ‘arsenal of weapons’ at their home address and will be sentenced tomorrow.
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