Two gang members who fatally stabbed a 16-year-old Afghan refugee because they thought he was a rival have been sentenced to life in prison.
On November 24, 2021, two 18-year-olds, Vanushan Balakrishnan and Ilyas Suleiman, stabbed Rishmeet Singh 15 times in a frantic 27-second assault in Southall, west London.
After the Taliban killed his father and attempted to kidnap him in order to force him to convert to Islam, Rishmeet, a Sikh, fled his home country two years prior with his mother and grandmother.
In her remarks regarding the sentence, Judge Sarah Munro KC stated, “They came here to seek a safe life.” That choice to relocate “will haunt Rishmeet’s mother and grandmother for the rest of their lives,” in hindsight.
Balakrishnan and Suleiman, from Hillingdon, west London, were found guilty of murder following an Old Bailey trial in March.
In a televised sentencing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Judge Munro handed Suleiman a minimum term of 21 years and Balakrishnan at least 24 years.
Balakrishnan was also detained at his majesty’s pleasure for a minimum concurrent term of four years for a second offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
He had admitted attacking a fellow inmate at a young offender’s institute while on remand, leaving the victim with severe brain damage.
Judge Munro said: ‘This case is yet another tragic example of the needless loss of a young teenager following a violent stabbing on the streets of London.
‘This case is the more tragic because Rishmeet was an entirely innocent victim.
‘He was described as a good person who would not hurt a fly. He was never involved in any kind of violence. It defies belief you two sought him out to kill him.’
Rishmeet’s mother Gulinder broke down in tears as she spoke outside court with the help of a translator.
She told reporters: ‘I just want to say I do not know what my child has done that they killed him in this way.
‘My son has got proper justice. I do not want these people to come out. I want them to stay inside.’
The court heard Balakrishnan was stopped by police in January 2021 and found to be in possession of a knife.
He was handed a referral order and allocated a social worker who taught him ‘the dangers of knife crime’.
On the night of the killing, Balakrishnan and Suleiman, then aged 17, set out on bicycles armed with two blades, a ‘terrifying’ three-foot long machete and a Rambo knife similar to the one he was stopped with bought online days before.
They both wore Covid masks and put their hoods up to hide their identities before setting out for a ‘glide’ or gang attack on enemy gang territory.
As Rishmeet, who was in a park with friends, headed for home he saw the pair running towards him and turned to warn his group to ‘run, run’.
But he tripped and fell to the floor where he was repeatedly stabbed in a savage attack.
CCTV footage captured Balakrishnan making five seperate stab movements and Suleiman a further 10.
Despite police and paramedics rushing to the scene, Rishmeet died there a short while later.
He suffered stab wounds to his head and chest, including penetrative injuries to his brain, liver and lung, as well as ‘through and through’ wounds to his arms as he desperately tried to fend off the blows.
Judge Munro said: ‘The very same night, you Balakrishnan, having taken your blood-stained knife back to your bedroom, photographed it and posted it on social media.
‘You then wrote drill lyrics glorifying the killing, which included lines such as, “one tripped and fell and he knew it was over, I was swinging my shank, swinging my blade back and forth, trying to turn him off, he tripped and got dipped onto my shank, chasing him with a nank really trying to open his chest apart, trying to push my knife through his lungs”.
‘Those chilling lyrics were found in the very notebook in which you recorded the lessons you’d learned about the dangers of knife crime as part of your referral order.’
Detective Inspector Laura Semple, of Scotland Yard, said: ‘Rishmeet was an innocent, young 16-year-old who had his whole life ahead of him.
‘He had just spent an enjoyable evening with his friends and was making the short walk home when he was callously chased down and knifed to death by Balakrishnan and Suleiman.
‘Between them, they stabbed him 15 times while he was defenceless on the floor.
‘There is never an excuse to murder someone in cold blood, but this case is made even more tragic by the fact that Rishmeet was wrongly targeted by his attackers.
‘Balakrishnan and Suleiman left the flat that day with the intention of ending someone’s life. Poor Rishmeet was simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time.’
Rishmeet’s mother Gulinder said: ‘Rishmeet was my only child, and he had his whole life ahead of him. No words could ever explain or put into context how I have felt since Rishmeet was taken from us.
‘He has been raised with so much love and now he’s gone. I am struggling to understand as to how and why this happened to my baby boy.
‘I feel I have lost everything and my life is over.
‘Rishmeet was attending college completing a public service course and his ambition was to become a police officer, all he wanted to do was to help people.
‘Rishmeet was well loved by all that knew him, he was a faithful boy and was very caring in his nature.
‘His brutal and untimely death has taken away my lifeline as Rishmeet was also my registered carer.
‘I will never recover from this evil act. I have lost my husband and now I have lost my only child, my son. Justice is finally served for Rishmeet but their sentence will never be enough for me. They have taken my whole life away from me and Rishmeet will never come home again.’