By IANS,
London : Two British schoolboys with an alleged “nasty attitude” toward Asians have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the unprovoked killing of an Asian man in the town of Bolton.
Andrew Smith, now 16, and his friend Jason Bolton, 18, killed 28-year-old father of three Asaf Mahmood Ahmed in December last year in an attack that was not officially described as racist, but which police said had “racial overtones”.
Judge Alistair MacDuff Thursday ordered Smith to serve a minimum 13 years and Bolton at least 17 years before they can be considered for parole, saying the attacks were “callous, unprovoked and lacking in humanity”.
Smith, who was 15 at the time of the attack, filmed himself on his mobile phone shortly after the incident as the words “eyes of a killer” were said in the background.
The two teenagers kicked and stamped on Ahmad for up to four minutes, triggering a fatal asthma attack in the slightly-built man.
Ahmed, who had left a family gathering to buy a soft drink from a shop near his home in Bolton, was found dead with his face covered in blood, still holding part of his inhaler in one hand.
While the older teenager, who was drunk, stayed at the scene, Smith went home and filmed himself on his phone bragging about what he had done.
The judge called Smith “a vicious, dangerous young thug”.
Although Bolton was said to have “a nasty attitude” toward Asians, the attack was not officially considered to have been racially motivated.
However, the judge said he had no doubt both had taken pleasure out of the fact that their victim was Asian.
“You took a video of yourself saying ‘the eyes of a killer’. I have tried to find a word for the tone of your voice – that tone is pride,” Judge MacDuff said at Manchester Crown Court.
Police spokesman Andy Tattersall said Ahmad “was attacked for no reason as he walked to a shop. That assault, which had racial overtones, sparked a fatal asthma attack”.