Four Tamil Gangsters jailed for murder - London
(By Walter Jayawardhana)
Three Sri Lankan Tamil gangsters of London were
sentenced to 17 years in jail for murder and another of the same gang
was sentenced to 14 years in jail for the same offense by a criminal
court of the Old Bailey for murdering another Tamil man by stabbing him
31 times.
In this case six members of the Tamil gang were
sentenced for offences like murder of Pirabakaran Kannan in Upper
Tooting Road and lesser crimes of grievous bodily harm(GBH) and actual
bodily harm(ABH) , which is lesser than GBH, to members of a Tamil Gang
to which the murder victim did not even belong.
Witnesses said in the courts that Mr Kannan was heard
shouting "It wasn't me, it wasn't me" shortly before he was brutally set
upon and killed by the four Tamil gang members. The seemingly uninvolved
victim happened to be there when two rival Sri Lankan Tamil gangs
clashed.
The sentencing came July 7, five days before the
banned terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is going
to hold their Pongu Thamil festival (Suicide Bombers' Day) in London
focused on fund raising. The police said gangs of violent Sri Lankan
Tamil men in South London area, where illegal fund raising activities of
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are quite rampant are
"constantly tooled up" and "ready to go", for such crimes . But there is
no direct evidence that the gangs are linked up with the LTTE. But there
is some connection with LTTE controlled businesses and Tamil violent
gangs, many have alleged.
Detective Inspector Anthony McKeowan calling the
violence the convicts displayed was ferocious said, "The attack on
Pirabaskaran Kannan was violent and merciless. He sustained thirty-one
stab and slash injuries at the back of a fast food restaurant in
Tooting, and died shortly after in hospital. The two friends who were
with him at the time suffered lesser injuries, but have obviously been
affected by events of that night. "Those who carried out the attack were
from a 'gang' of Tamil and other Asian youths from Croydon, who came to
Tooting with the express purpose of attacking people whom they saw as
members of a rival Tamil 'gang'. Although Mr Kannan himself was not
known to be a gang member, he suffered the misfortune of getting trapped
at the rear of the restaurant and becoming the focus of the attack.
"The violence they displayed was ferocious and led to
the senseless death of a young man. I hope that the fact that those
responsible have been convicted will act as a deterrent to others, and
cause all those who might resort to such violence to reconsider their
behaviour, and start to put a proper value on human life.
"I would like to thank my officers who have worked
diligently to put this case together and I would also like to praise the
family of Pirabaskaran for the dignity they have shown throughout this
harrowing ordeal and the witnesses whose information helped bring about
these convictions."
Despite the current police attitude Police have always
in the past denied there was a problem with the gangs in Croydon, but
have now admitted there was a specialist officer dealing with Tamil gang
activity in the borough. A member of a gang who did not want to be named
was quoted by a Croydon Guardian ,a local newspaper as saying: "These
guys are tough man, they do not care who they hurt or who gets in their
way. They ride around in flash cars tooled-up with knives, swords, bats
and whatever else they can grab to do damage to a guy."
Four men were today (07.7.08) sentenced at the Old
Bailey for the murder of Pirabaskaran KANNAN in Upper Tooting Rd, SW17
on 15th June 2007. They were all also sentenced for the GBH of Naresh
MYLVAGANAM and the ABH of Arunan THANABALASINGHAM resulting from the
same incident. Two other men pleaded guilty to the GBH of Naresh
MYLVAGANAM and the ABH of Arunan THANABALASINGHAM resulting from the
same incident.
Aziz MIAH (12.06.87 - 20 ys) of Sumner Road Croydon
Asif KUMBAY (21.02.88 - 20 ys) of Grasmere Road, SE25; and Vabeesan
SIVARAJAH (17.03.86 - 22 ys) of no fixed address were sentenced to 17
years for murder, seven years for GBH and three years for ABH. All
sentences to run concurrently.
Kirush NANTHAKUMAR (13.09.89 - 18 ys) of Leslie Grove,
Croydon was sentenced to 14 years for murder, six years for GBH and two
years for ABH to run concurrently.
Mayuran SRIVINAYAGAM (03.01.83 - 25 ys) of Greyhound
Terrace, Streatham was sentenced to seven years for GBH and three years
for ABH to run concurrently.
Mahitharn RATNASINGHAM (10.01.85 - 23 ys) of no fixed
address was sentenced to six years for GBH and two and a half years for
ABH to run concurrently. (EOM)
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