CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

FOUR TAMIL GANG MEMBERS SENTENCED TO JAIL FOR THE MURDER OF AN INNOCENT TAMIL IN A LONDON STREET

By Walter Jayawardhana

Three Sri LankanTamil 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 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.

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