Two teenagers jailed for life for murder of 16-year-old Afghan refugee
Ilyas Suleiman and Vanushan Balakrishnan have been jailed for life for the murder of 16-year-old Rishmeet Singh
Two teenagers have been sentenced to life for murdering an 16-year-old Afghan refugee who they mistakenly thought belonged to a rival gang.
Street gangsters Vanushan Balakrishnan and Ilyas Suleiman, both 18, who stabbed Rishmeet Singh 15 times between them, have been locked up for life with minimum terms of 24 years and 21 years respectively.
Rishmeet came to the UK in October 2019 with his mother and grandmother to seek asylum from Jalalabad in Afghanistan.
His father was killed by the Taliban six months before that, and shortly after they tried to kidnap Rishmeet – forcing the family to flee to the UK.
An earlier Old Bailey trial had heard that in November 2021 Rishmeet had just left his friends after enjoying an evening in the park in Southall and was walking home when he saw two people running towards him.
“My son has got proper justice. I do not want these people to come out. I want them to stay inside.” Rishmeet’s mother Gulinder broke down in tears as she spoke outside court with the help of a translator
Rishmeet immediately ran back towards his friends and shouted "run, run".
He ran down Raleigh Road, in Southall, where he tripped and fell.
One of his pursuers then stabbed him at least five times in the back. Seconds later, the second male also began to stab Rishmeet – at least 10 times.
His attackers then fled, leaving his bloodied and injured body on the ground.
The whole attack, from when Rishmeet tripped, lasted 27 seconds.
In a televised sentencing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Judge Sarah Munro KC 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 was a carer to his mother, Gulinder, who said her son's "brutal and untimely" murder had "taken away her lifeline" and that she had "lost everything".
Gulinder broke down in tears as she spoke outside court with the help of a translator.
She welcomed the life sentences, but said they would "never be enough".
“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," she said.
“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."
She continued: “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.”
Following the arrest of Balakrishnan police recovered a notebook containing rap lyrics glorifying the murder.
A picture of his blood-stained knife posted on social media after the murder was found on his mobile phone.
The court heard Balakrishnan had a previous conviction for possessing a Rambo knife, for which he was given a referral order in February 2021.
The court heard that Rishmeet was not in a gang and the defendants had mistakenly thought he was part of a rival gang.
Detective Inspector Laura Semple, of Scotland Yard, said: “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."
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