Ilford shopkeeper who killed his children given indefinite hospital restriction  

Ilford shopkeeper who killed his two children during lockdown has been sentenced to hospital with a restriction for an indefinite period under the Mental Health Act.

Nadarajah Nithiyakumar, 41, of Aldborough Parade, Ilford was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Thursday (10 December) for killing his children Pavinya (19 months) and Nigish (3) in April this year.

The court accepted a guilty plea to manslaughter with diminished responsibility after psychiatrists concluded he had delusional disorder.

On 26 April, Nithiyakumar returned to the family home in Ilford just after 4.30pm. Later, he washed himself and watched television, before slitting his children’s throats and cutting his own neck and chest while his wife was in the shower, the court heard.

When his wife Nisanthini Nithiyakumar heard noises and went to see what was going on, he told her: “I have cut the children off.”

When police arrived, she told officers that he stabbed himself and the kids.

Pavinya was pronounced dead at the scene and Nigish died later in hospital. The defendant underwent surgery and spent time in an induced coma.

Following charge, Nithiyakumar underwent a series of psychological evaluations for both the prosecution and the defence. Both outcomes indicated that at the time of the offences, he was suffering from delusional disorder.

“After my children were born I was the happiest woman in the world. Every moment I spent with my kids, these were my happiest moments. They were both my world and I doted on them. My future ambitions and my life surrounded my children,” said Nisanthini Nithiyakumar.

“I never expected this sort of incident to happen in my life and a mother to outlive her children. On the day of the incident I saw my children and what he did to them. I could not understand if it was dream or a nightmare, with those shocking images never leaving me.”

The court heard that Nithiyakumar had been granted asylum after arriving in Britain from Sri Lanka in 1999. He first came to the attention of mental health services in 2010 and was put on anti-psychotic medication but his treatment lapsed.

Vicky Tunstall, Detective Chief Inspector of Met Police, said: “This has been a truly tragic case. Despite the conclusion that the defendant was mentally ill at the time of the deaths, the loss felt by the children’s families will be unending and our thoughts are with them at this sad time.”