Labourer found guilty of murdering Nilanthan Murddi in racist attack (From Your Local Guardian)

Labourer found guilty of murdering Nilanthan Murddi in racist attack

3:23pm Friday 26th June 2009

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An unemployed labourer has been found guilty of murdering 17-year-old Nilanthan Murddi and is facing a life sentence.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how 31-year-old Stephen Braithwaite killed the teen in a racist attack after arguing with him from the back of a taxi.

Nilanthan and a group of friends were celebrating a birthday by drinking in a car park at the top of Sumner Road in the early hours of August 16 last year.

Friends of the Tamil student told the court Nilanthan was drunk and starting fights with people passing by.

One of those was Braithwaite who yelled “Pakis” at the group from the back of a passing cab.

About 20 minutes after the cab drove off, Braithwaite returned to the group to finish his argument with Nilanthan in a brutal fashion stabbing him in the neck with a knife.

The jury reached their verdict after just eight hours of deliberation.

Braithwaite, a father of four, from Croydon, is due to be sentenced on July 3.

Judge David Radford warned Braithwaite he could be facing a life sentence for the murder.

Friends of Nilanthan’s told the jury a group of them were toasting a friend’s birthday, drinking from bottles of Courvoisier and Jack Daniels.

Ragdeep Singh, 23, a friend of the teen told the court Nilanthan was not a big drinker and was getting “argumentative”.

He picked a fight with Stephen Braithwaite who was sitting in the back of a cab at the traffic lights on Sumner Road.

Christopher Kinch, QC prosecuting told the court Nilanthan went “ballistic” and tried to pull Braithwaite from the cab when he yelled “Pakis” at the group.

Braithwaite returned to the scene 20 minutes later armed with a knife and swigging from a can of lager.

He stabbed Nilanthan in the neck and the court heard how the teen staggered across Sumner road to collapse bleeding against the blue hoarding.

His horrified friends told the court of the moments they saw their friend clutching at a bleeding wound in his neck.

They tried desperately to save his life, calling an ambulance while Braithwaite walked off down London Road.

He hid the weapon in a rubbish bag on Addington Road before going to his sister-in-law’s flat where his four children were sleeping.

He claimed Nilanthan’s friends had gone for him as he walked up Sumner Road and said he disarmed Nilanthan who came at him with a dagger.

He said he was unaware he had stabbed or killed Nilanthan until he saw the news a few days later.

Braithwaite has been remanded in custody until sentencing.

To leave your tributes to Nilanthan go to croydonguardian.co.uk

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