Tamil gang members jailed for life for Tooting murder

6:57pm Monday 7th July 2008

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Members of a Tamil gang who stabbed a Tooting supermarket worker to death have been sentenced to more than 60 years in jail.

The four men, members of Tamil gang the Jaffna Boys, were sentenced at the Old Bailey today after being found guilty of murdering Pranaskaran Kannan at the Upper Tooting Road branch of Chicken Cottage last summer.

The group had driven to Tooting on June 15, 2007 to confront rival gang The Tooting Tamils.

The court heard Mr Kannan, a Sainsbury's worker, was wrongly targeted by the young men.

Armed with knives, sticks and bottles they chased the terrified 28-year-old through Chicken Cottage in front of frightened staff.

They caught him in the fast food shop's back yard in Mandrake Road and stabbed him 31 times.

He died shortly afterwards from massive blood loss.

The four were also convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm to two other men who were with Mr Kannan that night.

Naresh Mylvaganam, 23, was beaten with a cricket bat so badly he needed 16 stitches in the head.

Arunan Thanabalasingham, 22, suffered a broken tooth after a bottle was thrown at him.

They were associated with the Tooting Tamils but Mr Kannan was not involved with the gang and had no previous convictions.

Police say he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Vabeesan Shivarajah, 22, Aziz Miah, 20, Asif Kumbay, 20, and Kirush Nathankumar, 18, all received life sentences for murder.

Shivarajah, of Blackheath, Miah, of Sumner Road, Croydon, and Kumbay, of Grassmere Road, Croydon, were told they would serve at least 17 years in jail.

Nathankumer, of Purley Way, Croydon, who was 17 when the gang carried out the attack was told he would serve 14 years in prison.

The court also sentenced Kumbay, Miah and Shivarajah to seven years and Nathankumar to six for attacking Mr Kannan's friends. The terms will run concurrently with their life sentences.

Another defendant Mayuran Srivinayagam, 20, of Greyhound Terrace, Streatham, was cleared of murder and manslaughter but found guilty of GBH and ABH. He was jailed for seven years for the grievous bodily harm and received a concurrent three-year term for actual bodily harm A sixth gang member Mahitharn Ratnasingham of Lesley Grove, Croydon, was cleared of murder and manslaughter at the group's trial. He admitted charges of GBH and ABH.