{"id":66968,"date":"2017-06-15T08:25:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T15:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=66968"},"modified":"2017-06-15T08:25:57","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T15:25:57","slug":"axe-murder-trial-highlights-vicious-sri-lankan-tamil-gangs-feuding-in-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/06\/15\/axe-murder-trial-highlights-vicious-sri-lankan-tamil-gangs-feuding-in-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Axe Murder Trial Highlights ‘Vicious’ Sri Lankan Tamil Gangs Feuding in UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Sputnik<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

In May 2009, a bloody civil war in Sri Lanka ended after 25 years with defeat for a rebel group who represented the island’s Tamil community. Thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils have migrated to Britain in recent years and a tiny minority appear to have been desensitized by the violence they witnessed growing up.<\/p>\n

\n

Between 2000 and 2003 violence between\u00a0Tamil gangs in\u00a0London spiked, with\u00a010 murders and a series of\u00a0other bloody incidents. The gangs took their names from\u00a0towns and villages back in\u00a0the north and east of\u00a0Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

The most prominent were Mannar, Ariyalai, Urundari and Valvettithurai, known as\u00a0VVT. But Scotland Yard swooped on\u00a0them and after\u00a0a series of\u00a0trials most of\u00a0the killers were jailed and the violence died down.<\/p>\n

\u200bIn May 2009, the civil war in\u00a0Sri Lanka came to\u00a0a bloody end when the Tamil Tigers were surrounded and killed in\u00a0their jungle hideout by\u00a0the Sri Lankan Army.<\/p>\n

The death of\u00a0the Tigers’ legendary leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran and their total rout by\u00a0soldiers from\u00a0the island’s Sinhalese majority came as\u00a0a body blow to\u00a0many Sri Lankan Tamils, who had dreamed of\u00a0a homeland called Eelam.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Tamils\"<\/div>\n
\u00a9 AP PHOTO\/ ARUN SANKAR K.<\/div>\n
Civil war erupted in 1983 against Tamils who wanted to declare Tamil Eelam as an independent state under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and its commander Velupillai Prabhakaran.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Back in\u00a0London many members of\u00a0the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora had protested in\u00a0Parliament Square, urging the British government to\u00a0do something to\u00a0protect the civilians who became caught up\u00a0in the violence in\u00a0the spring of\u00a02009.<\/p>\n

Many more Sri Lankan Tamil refugees came to\u00a0live in\u00a0Britain, many of\u00a0them psychologically damaged from\u00a0what they had witnessed. New gangs began to\u00a0emerge on\u00a0the streets of\u00a0London\u00a0\u2014 the Jaffna Boys, Tooting Tamils, the Harrow Gang and the notorious DMX, from\u00a0Wembley.<\/p>\n

Within the Tooting Tamils were two groups of\u00a0friends who would fall out\u00a0with each other because of\u00a0disputes over\u00a0money from\u00a0cash machine frauds they were involved in.<\/p>\n

On November 23, 2015 these two groups were in\u00a0the center of\u00a0Mitcham, a south London suburb. They were attending rival drinking parties, both taking place in\u00a0parking lots near\u00a0a Morrisons supermarket.<\/p>\n

Just after\u00a07pm one of\u00a0the gangs, armed with\u00a0axes, swords and machetes, started chasing the other group.<\/p>\n

Justin Neel Croos, 26, was cornered and attacked with\u00a0an axe.<\/p>\n

Another man, Rajendren Mahindaskaran, had three fingers almost severed when he put his hand up\u00a0to shield his head from\u00a0a weapon. A third victim suffered a fractured skull.<\/p>\n

The leader of\u00a0the attackers, Prashad Sothalingham\u00a0\u2014 known by\u00a0the street name “Bullet”\u00a0\u2014 fled to\u00a0Portsmouth and then Essex, where he was arrested.<\/p>\n

\n
\"(L-R)<\/div>\n
\u00a9 PHOTO: METROPOLITAN POLICE UK<\/div>\n
(L-R) Visuparathan Dayaparan, Neal Croos (victim), Sivakaran Ockersz, Sugan Selvarajan, Prashad Sothalingham<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Another defendant fled to\u00a0Yorkshire while one murder suspect, Inkaran Balasingham, fled the country entirely and is believed to\u00a0still be abroad, possibly in\u00a0India or Sri Lanka.\u00a0Eight men were charged with\u00a0Mr. Croos’s murder and this week the last in\u00a0a series of\u00a0trials ended with\u00a0one being convicted of\u00a0murder and several others convicted of\u00a0violent disorder.Prosecutor Mark Fenhalls, QC, told the Old Bailey it had been a “vicious attack” by\u00a0men with\u00a0a “complex history of\u00a0grievances and violence.”<\/p>\n

On Wednesday (June 14), Sothalingam, 25, was jailed for\u00a0life for\u00a0the murder of\u00a0Mr. Croos.<\/p>\n

Sentencing him to\u00a0a minimum of\u00a029 years behind\u00a0bars, Mr. Justice Bevan QC told him he hoped he would be deported at\u00a0the end of\u00a0his sentence.<\/p>\n

Sothalingham came to\u00a0Britain, as\u00a0an illegal immigrant, at\u00a0the age of\u00a015 and lied about\u00a0his past\u00a0in order to\u00a0stay in\u00a0the UK.<\/p>\n

“Your reaction in\u00a0the witness box was to\u00a0state that the feuding of\u00a0Tamil gangs was based on\u00a0respect. But where is the slightest respect for\u00a0the country which has taken you in\u00a0and supported you?” the judge told him.<\/p>\n

“Those who come to\u00a0this country for\u00a0a better life or to\u00a0escape a war-torn country, as\u00a0Sri Lanka was at\u00a0the time, are not expected to\u00a0be grateful. But they cannot simply carry on\u00a0as before, with\u00a0feuding criminal gangs using swords, axes and machetes. It will not be tolerated,” the judge added.<\/p>\n

A witness had told the jury he saw Sothalingham armed with\u00a0an axe and saw him hit Mr. Croos on\u00a0the head with\u00a0it.<\/p>\n

Sugan Selvarajan was found not guilty of\u00a0murder.<\/p>\n

Two other men\u00a0\u2014 Aranventhan Puventhiran, 21, and Sivakaran\u00a0Ockersz, 18, were cleared of\u00a0murder by\u00a0a jury last year but\u00a0Puventhiran was jailed for\u00a033 months for\u00a0violent disorder.<\/p>\n

Four other men\u00a0\u2014 Gowrishanth Loganathan, 21, Jerome Jeyakumar, \u00a023, Visuparathan Dayaparan, \u00a023, and Vithusan Balamurali, 20, had been cleared of\u00a0murder on\u00a0the directions of\u00a0a judge.<\/p>\n

Selvarajan, Ockersz and Dayaparan were convicted of\u00a0wounding and violent disorder and jailed on\u00a0Wednesday.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/sputniknews.com\/europe\/201706141054599824-axe-murder-tamil-gangs\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Sputnik In May 2009, a bloody civil war in Sri Lanka ended after 25 years with defeat for a rebel group who represented the island’s Tamil community. Thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils have migrated to Britain in recent years and a tiny minority appear to have been desensitized by the violence they witnessed growing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}