Blood stains found in Tamil gang member's car, court hears

11:39am Friday 2nd May 2008

Blood stains were found in the glove compartment of a car belonging to a man accused of hacking a Tooting man to death in a Tamil gang fight, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

The court will hear in two weeks whether the blood, found on a roll of gaffer tape, belongs to Prabaskaran Kannan, 28, who died after being stabbed repeatedly on June 15 last year.

The car's owner Manitharn Ratinasingham, from Croydon, is accused along with five other defendants of Mr Kannan's murder.

The Sri Lankan was stabbed after he was chased with two friends through the Chicken Cottage fast food restaurant in Upper Tooting Road by the men armed with knives and a cricket bat, the court has heard.

On Thursday the jury was shown the gaffer tape by Catherine Sheron, assistant forensic practitioner at Kingston police, who said the stain was smaller than a coin.

It was found on June 18 in the glove compartment of the black Vauxhall Astra along with a black and white bandana very similar to one recovered from the scene, the court heard.

Another of the defendants, Vabeesan Shivarajah, from Blackheath, visited the A&E department of Lewisham Hospital a short time after the killing.

Dr Nadeem Nayeem, a consultant at the hospital, told the court how his colleague had treated Mr Shivarajah for a two-and-a-half inch cut on his back which had bled profusely and was "compatible with something caused by a sharp object perhaps glass or a knife."

The 22-year-old told the doctor he was play fighting with a friend who had pushed him and he fell into some glass, the court heard. He also had a wound to his head.

Aziz Miah, 20, of Sumner Road, Croydon, Kirush Nathankumar, 18, Manitharn Ratnasingam, 23, both from Croydon, Asif Kumbah, 20, of Grasmere Road, South Norwood, Mayuran Srivinayagam, 25, of Greyhound Terrace, Streatham and Vabeesan Shivarajah, 22, from Blackheath, all deny murdering Mr Kannan.

The six also deny assaulting Mr Kannan's flatmate Arunan Thanabalasingham, and causing grevious bodily harm to his friend Naresh Mylvaganam.

The trial was adjourned until Monday, May 12, because of the commitments of one of the defence lawyers to another murder trial.