London: A Briton was on Tuesday sentenced to a
minimum of 18 years in prison for the "racially-aggravated"
murder of Indian Navy officer Kunal Mohanty by a court here.
Christopher Miller, 25, had knifed 30-year-old Mohanty in
the neck as he walked to a restaurant with his friends in
Glasgow in March this year.
Miller claimed in court that the incident was 'botched
mugging' but a jury at the High Court in Glasgow returned a
unanimous verdict of murder.
The judge said the killing was as "incomprehensible as it
was evil".
During the trial at the High Court in Glasgow prosecutors
said the seaman was attacked because of his skin colour.
Mohanty, who was due to become a father for the first
time, was in Glasgow to sit his captain's exams at the city's
Nautical College.
The court was told that he was left bleeding to death
from an 18cm long hole in his neck.
A doctor described Mohanty's neck injury as "one of the
worst he had ever seen".
Prosecuting lawyer Dorothy Bain said it was "an atrocity
delivered without mercy, a death blow" and "an unprovoked
attack on a blameless, defenceless and wholly decent man
because Christopher Miller didn't like the colour of his skin.
As Mohanty lay dying in the street with blood gushing
from his neck, Miller and his friend John McGrory, 20, were
seen on CCTV running through a car park celebrating.
Miller's brother Jamie Miller, 17, gave evidence during
the trial and said Miller told him he had "done a Paki".
Sentencing him, temporary judge John Beckett told Miller:
"Your behaviour after the murder suggested that you were
anything but sorry and appeared to be celebrating".
"The murder was racially aggravated. There can be no
justification for slashing the neck of someone who did you no
harm... To do so because of the colour of a man's skin is as
incomprehensible as it is evil," he said.
The judge said everyone in this city and this country
should be ashamed of his actions. He told Miller that it would
be up to the parole board to decide when he is released.
After the verdict, Lesley Thomson, area procurator fiscal
for Glasgow said: "Mohanty was doing nothing other than
enjoying time off his studies with friends. He was attacked
for no reason other than that Christopher Miller is a racist".
"He died because Christopher Miller had a knife and had
no hesitation in using it," she said.
She added that Glasgow rightly celebrates its cultural
diversity and everyone should be free to enjoy the city in
safety.
Det Insp Gary Thomson, the officer in charge of the
investigation, said the racist murder of an innocent man on
the streets caused a lot of concern and fear in the community,
"however fortunately crimes of this nature aren't common".
"However one is still one too many, and the senseless
loss of life is tragic," he said.
Bureau Report