Photograph: Metropolitan Police
A Tamil man has admitted to killing his two children in East London earlier this year, with a court hearing how he had suffered from a delusional disorder for several years and received “very little treatment” for the condition.
Nadarajah Nithiyakumar, a shopkeeper in Ilford, killed 19-month-old Pavinya and three-year-old Nigish with a knife on April 26. He pleaded guilty at the Old Baily to two counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility. Nithiyakumar was admitted to hospital after turning the knife on himself after the attack.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told the court that psychiatrists believed the defendant was "suffering from a delusional disorder" which had "led him to kill his children".
"It was one from which he had suffered for some time, for the best part of 10 years, with very little indication and very little treatment," he said, adding that one expert thought it was "remarkable he was able to function for as long as he did" considering his condition.
“It is clear from the unanimous opinion of very experienced psychiatrists that this defendant was at the time of these offences suffering from a delusional disorder,” Mr Atkinson told the court. “It was one from which he had suffered for some time, for the best part of 10 years. with very little indication and very little treatment.”
“It was clear it was that disorder that led him to kill his children,” Atkinson added, stating that the case was “on any view of the very greatest seriousness”.
Nithiyakumar admitted to being depressed and said that customers had “upset him” whilst he was working at the shop earlier that day. He had thought about committing suicide but thought it would “ruin the children’s lives and they would go off the rails”, a court previously heard.
Mrs Justice Cutts adjourned sentencing until 10 December, saying she would need "further information from the doctors and to hear from them evidence in person before I can decide what the appropriate sentence should be.”
Nithiyakumar was sent back to the medium secure mental health where he is currently receiving treatment.
The murder, which took place amidst several weeks of lockdown in the city, has highlighted the pressing issue of mental health amongst the local Tamil community and the stigma attached to it.
At least two other Tamil children have also been murdered in London since the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns began earlier this year.
A Tamil helpline set up by volunteers in London has received hundreds of calls, said community organiser Anandan Arnold to the Tamil Guardian earlier this year, many regarding mental health issues. He spoke of immediate safeguarding cases and situations where vulnerable people needed immediate help.
“There are mental issues leading to alcohol abuse as well as verbal and domestic abuse and vice versa, meaning it starts with alcoholism and leading to mental issues, or it starts with abuse and lead leads to mental well-being issues,” said Arnold.
“There is a stigma attached to being described as if you have ‘mental health issues’, so people feel they can’t come forward,” added Arnold, as he urged the community to take the issue seriously.
Read more about the helpline here.
