What Henry Nowak’s Needless Death Represents for the West

Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old white college freshman studying finance at the University of Southhampton, started walking home alone just after 11 p.m. on December 3, 2025, after an evening out with his sports teammates to celebrate the end of the academic term. He had been drinking, but it couldn’t have been too much, as it was later confirmed that his blood-alcohol content was under the legal threshold to drive. While Nowak was video-chatting on the phone with friends, he encountered Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man who lived on the street with his family and was helping his older brother complete food delivery orders. Digwa was wearing two Sikh ceremonial blades: a knife around his neck and a 21-cm (8-inch) dagger across his body.

It isn’t clear who started what or why, but something happened between them, and nobody else saw it. Perhaps they bumped into each other. It seems that Nowak spotted one of the knives, an unusual sight to a non-Sikh, and became confused. A recording of Nowak’s then-ongoing video chat reveals he cheekily told Digwa, “Innit bad, man? What a bad man. You’re a bad man, say you’re a bad man, go on.” Digwa replied, “I am a bad man.”

About the Author

Abigail Anthony

Abigail Anthony is a staff writer at National Review.

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Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old white college freshman studying finance at the University of Southhampton, started walking home alone just after 11 p.m. on December 3, 2025, after an evening out with his sports teammates to celebrate the end of the academic term. He had been drinking, but it couldn’t have been too much, as it was later confirmed that his blood-alcohol content was under the legal threshold to drive. While Nowak was video-chatting on the phone with friends, he encountered Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man who lived on the street with his family and was helping his older brother complete food delivery orders. Digwa was wearing two Sikh ceremonial blades: a knife around his neck and a 21-cm (8-inch) dagger across his body.

It isn’t clear who started what or why, but something happened between them, and nobody else saw it. Perhaps they bumped into each other. It seems that Nowak spotted one of the knives, an unusual sight to a non-Sikh, and became confused. A recording of Nowak’s then-ongoing video chat reveals he cheekily told Digwa, “Innit bad, man? What a bad man. You’re a bad man, say you’re a bad man, go on.” Digwa replied, “I am a bad man.”