3 jailed in UK for killing Indian

LONDON: Three persons have been jailed for nine years each after being convicted of killing an Indian worker in Norfolk, for his Blackberry phone that they later sold for 60 pounds and a chicken dinner.

Sarvanakumar Sellappan, 24, was returning home from his job at a petrol station when he was accosted by Armenian Roshan Samedov, 18, and Iranians Jegir Ahmmadi, 20, and Awat Muradi, 18 in the town of Diss.

The three have been found guilty of manslaughter and robbery.

Sellappan, who was reported to be the only son of his parents based in India, was targeted when the robbers saw him talking on his BlackBerry.

They followed him into residential road, where they struck, knocking him to the ground, in October last year.

He became unconscious the following morning and died from a brain injury despite being sent home from hospital.

Judge Michael Mettyear told the three accused: "This was a violent robbery on a street on a wholly innocent victim.

"With the three of you there, the probability is that the mere threat of force would have persuaded him to hand over his BlackBerry".

He added: "He was not given a chance. He was struck by a vicious blow which knocked him from his feet and caused head injuries.

"And for what? For the sake of a mobile phone which you thought was worth 100 pounds, but which netted you 60 pounds and a chicken takeaway".

Judge Mettyear said Sellappan was the only son of a family in India, who was walking home from work at a petrol station.

He did not report the robbery to police because he did not want to worry his parents and also did not want to lose time from work.

When friends took him to hospital, he said he had fallen down stairs.

But after his death, the pathologist alerted police that the head injury could not be from such a fall.

The judge said the defendants would have got away with the crime had it not been for this and then the "tenacity" of the police inquiry.

But, he said, the overriding factor in catching and convicting them had been CCTV cameras.