Rishmeet Singh: Two teenagers convicted of ‘cold blooded’ murder of 16-year-old in Southall

Two teenagers have been found guilty of murdering a 16-year-old boy who they mistakenly thought belonged to a rival gang.

Rishmeet Singh was the victim of a fatal attack in Raleigh Road, Ealing, on November 24 2021.

Vanushan Balakrishnan, 18, of Waylands, Hillingdon, and Ilyas Suleiman, 18, of St Jerome’s Grove, Hillingdon, were found guilty on Monday, March 6 of his murder following a trial at the Old Bailey.

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 prior to that, and shortly after they tried to kidnap Rishmeet – forcing the family to flee to the UK.

The court heard that at about 9pm on November 24 2021, Rishmeet had just left his friends after enjoying a pleasant evening in the park in Southall and was walking home when he saw two unknown males running towards him.

Rishmeet immediately ran back towards his friends and shouted ‘run, run.’

Officers and the London Ambulance Service scrambled to the scene after receiving a 999 call from a member of the public, but despite their best efforts Rishmeet died at the scene at 10.08pm.

Detectives from the Specialist Crime Command launched a murder investigation and enquiries revealed that Balakrishnan and Suleiman, who were aged 17 at the time of the attack, had spent most of the day at a flat in Austin Road, Southall, with seven other people.

The pair left the flat shortly before 8.50pm on pedal bikes.

They both changed the clothing they had been wearing all day, armed themselves with knives, put their hoods up, covered their faces with covid-masks, which the jury heard was in a bid to hide their appearance as they had intended to go out and commit murder.

They cycled to the canal towpath where it is believed they saw Rishmeet say goodbye to his friends on the bridge above and walk off alone – making him an easy target.

They dumped their bikes near the bridge and chased after Rishmeet on foot, with Balakrishnan attacking him first followed by Suleiman.

They are captured on CCTV fleeing the scene, and are clearly identifiable from the distinctive clothing and covid masks they were wearing – including Balakrishnan’s dark trousers with a white stripe behind the knee.

CCTV showed that they returned to the bridge to collect their bikes, and cycled back to the flat in Austin Road.

They left the bikes outside and went into the flat. From analysing their mobile phones, detectives established Suleiman booked a taxi at 9:24pm to his home address, and then onto Balakrishnan’s home address.

Balakrishnan was arrested on suspicion of murder at his home address on December 2 2021.

Officers recovered the clothing he had worn most of the day before and after the murder, as well as a notebook containing lyrics that he had written, with some describing unique features of Rishmeet’s murder, including Rishmeet running and tripping over. Further lyrics were also found on his mobile phone.

Suleiman was arrested at an address in Edgware on December 9 2021.

In a statement, 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 how and why this happened to my baby boy.

“I feel I have lost everything and my life is over.

“I will never get over losing him in this way. I will not see him grow up into a young man. I will not see him leave college.

“I will not see him fulfil his aspirations. I will not see him learn to drive. I will not see him fall in love and get married.

“I will not become a grandmother and see my son grow old. I have been robbed of so many future events.”

Det Insp Laura Semple, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, 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.

“My thoughts remain with Rishmeet’s family and friends, who have shown extraordinary courage throughout, including during the trial where they were forced to relive Rishmeet’s horrific last moments."