by David Harrison and Vikki Miller(June 01, London, Sri Lanka Guardian)Navarajah Navaneethan, who was arrested yesterday in relation to a stabbing which left two of his children dead, has been released and will not be charged over the incident. Image:The Navaneethan's six-month old baby is in a critical condition.
His wife Sasikala Navaneethan is still being questioned over the deaths of the five-year-old boy and his sister, 4. Her six-month-old daughter remains in a critical condition after undergoing surgery for knife wounds last night.
Police have refused to give details of the incident, in the middle-class suburb of Carshalton, south London, but sources suggested that the throats of the five-year-old boy and four-year-old girl had been cut.
Mr Navaneethan, 39, owns a newsagent's and grocery store in nearby Coulsdon. Police said he had be bailed to return to a police station on a seperate incident, but refused to give further details.
As well-wishers laid flowers outside the four-bedroom house in Park Lane yesterday, neighbours described the "chaotic scenes". They said the victims were "sweet children" who had enjoyed riding their bicycles in their garden.
Jim Duffy, 55, a neighbour, said: "We saw them bringing a child out and then about half an hour later they came out with another child.
"Then a woman who had blood on her dress, on her back. She was dressed in Indian-style clothes and they took her into an ambulance. She was calm, no screaming or shouting.
"About half an hour later a man came out. He was quite calm, too. The police didn't handcuff him at first and he sat in the front of the police van making calls on his mobile phone. They later put him in the cage at the back of the van and he seemed to have some sort of argument with the police but he didn't look like he was resisting arrest."
The children were taken to hospital and pronounced dead shortly before 11pm.
Another neighbour, Pam Thomas, 68, said: "When we heard the sirens I looked out and I saw a paramedic carrying a baby scooped up in his arms. Then a child's body that looked lifeless and limp.
"Then they brought out a bigger child in a white blanket and they had oxygen and they were pumping its chest."
Mrs Thomas said the couple had moved into the house just before Christmas.
Dhruba Sengupta, 66, a retired forensic laboratory technician, who lives opposite, said: "This is all very shocking. I have been living here for 21 years and have never known anything like this."
A group of Sri Lankan friends or relatives came to the house after the police arrived, he said. "They said they had lived in the house with the couple but moved out because of problems. The police came out and spoke to them and then they started screaming and crying."
The £300,000 house was taped off yesterday as forensic teams searched inside.
John Bailey, 22, a salesman staying three doors away, said: "It was manic. At 10.30pm, about 10 police cars came screeching to a halt outside the house.
"About six policemen were running up and down the road. They didn't seem to know what house they had been called to. Then an Asian-looking man came out of the house and walked slowly to the end of the drive. Then the police knew which one it was and ran inside."
He said that the man "didn't show any emotion whatsoever and his expression didn't change the whole time".
Carol Bradley, 60, who lives next door, said: "This is so awful. The children were so sweet. They were always riding their bikes up and down in the garden and they would come up and talk to me."
Neighbours said the couple were thought to be from the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka. Tony Silverstein, 62, who runs a kitchens and bathroom store in Coulsdon, near Mr Navaneethan's shop, Best Save Food and Wine, said: "I can't believe this happened. I knew the husband well. He was a lovely, helpful bloke.
"We used to call him Smiley because he always seemed happy and liked to have a laugh and a joke. The kids would be running around the shop while the wife carried the baby.
"She was very offish, and would serve you with a grunt. He was much friendlier."
- Sri Lanka Guardian
 Navarajah Navaneethan, who was arrested yesterday in relation to a ...){kind=link}
Post a Comment