Tamil gang members convicted in sword crime
Walter Jayawardhana
UK: Seven members of a Sri Lankan Tamil gang led by a heinous
criminal named Psycho who by using a Samurai type sword left another
Tamil man’s profusely bleeding hand hanging from his wrist, were
convicted by a criminal court of the Old Bailey.
Judge Richard Hawkins QC said sentencing will be done July 18 after
deliberations to decide whether the gang members are so dangerous to be
locked up indefinitely.
In this case 21-year-old Senthurrajah “Psycho” Thavapalasingham , a
Sri Lankan Tamil with his other gang members of the East Ham Gang were
accused of cutting Arulmurugan Sebamalai, 23, and leaving his hand
hanging from his wrist, among other crimes like unlawful assembly.
The victims and his other friends, who were members of another Tamil
gang named DMX, the court was told, ambushed by
Psycho’s East Ham Gang while the former were on their way to play
cricket, about two years ago in an East London Tamil suburb. Sabesan
Sivaneswaran, 19, a factory worker; jobless Santosh Panthaplavil
Sasidharan, 24; Selvarajah Mayuran, 28, a salesman; Arumugan Paratheeban,
24, a student, and Edward Jaganathan, 26, a salesman, were also
convicted of crimes of violence in this trial which, started three
months ago.
“Psycho was armed with a samurai sword. The sword was around three
feet long, silver coloured. It wasn’t in a sheath. He was holding it in
a raised position and running towards us. I got out the car and I had a
bat in my hand. When he started cutting me repeatedly I tried to block
it,” victim, Arulmurugan Sebamalai told the police.
He and his friends, members of a Tamil gang known as DMX, were
ambushed by up to 25 men led by 21-year-old Senthurrajah “Psycho”
Thavapalasingham as they travelled to play cricket, the victim told
police.
According to the evidence led at the trial, armed with swords and
pick-axe handles they singled out Sebamalai and rained down a series of
blows as gang members shouted: “Slash him, Psycho, kill him.”
Sebamalai lifted his arm to shield his face but the razor-sharp sword
blade sliced through his arm and exposed the bone, he said. The attack
took place on August 28, 2006, after the 25-strong “East Ham Gang”, in
five cars, tracked Sebamalai to Braemar Avenue in an East London
Borough.
When they spotted him in a car with his friends they surrounded it
and started throwing bottles at the white Suzuki Swift, witnesses
said.Alarmed by the attack Ashokumar Tharmarajah, who was driving the
car, stopped and the group got out, arming themselves with cricket bats
and stumps, the evidence led at the trial further revealed.
Thavapalasingham and fellow gang member Kirubananantharasa Gunaratnam,
32, got out of their green BMW and picked out two swords from the boot.
The victim’s friends, Tharmarajah and Lynkaran Tharmalingam, told the
courts that they saw him being slashed before the fight was eventually
broken up by police.
Thavapalasingham later told a friend that he would have killed
Sebamalai if officers had not arrived, the court heard. Seven gang
members were convicted of a string of offences at the Old Bailey June 19
including Thavapalasingham, 21, and Gunaratnam. Sebamalai had identified
them both as his attackers at an identification parade and a jury
convicted them of attempted murder and violent disorder.
Thavapalasingham confessed that he was going to offer the victim’s
family sterling pounds 40,000 if they did not pick him out in an
identity parade.
He was arrested at the scene while Gunaratam was arrested hiding in a
nearby street.
Other members of the “East Ham Gang” were arrested after a police
search of the area.
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