10.7.2008
By Walter Jayawardhana
Making
a record as the first man to commit suicide in a British
court a Sri Lankan Tamil by consuming poison on the dock
at Isleworth Crown Court in London and took his life.
Anandakumar
Rathnasabapathy (40) took a concoction made out of crushed
sleeping tablets on the dock of the court when he was
found guilty of assaulting his baby daughter and leaving
her quadriplegic, epileptic and partially blind, an inquest
held into his death was told.
The
Sri Lankan Tamil's death is considered the first suicide
inside a court room, although in 1904 a British mining
tycoon named Whitaker Wright took his life in a toilet
of a court room of the Old Bailey after he was convicted
for fraud.
In
the Isleworth Crown Court Rathnasabapathy was convicted
for assaulting his three month old baby daughter and he
had told his interpreter before that if he was found guilty
he would swallow the fatal concoction which he carried
in a coca-cola bottle and die.
Even
before that he had repeatedly threatened that he would
take his life if found guilty of the charge of grievous
bodily harm and child cruelty to his three month old baby
daughter. He hurt the baby by blocking her nose and mouth
deliberately, it was found.
It
was revealed at the inquest that Rathnasabapathy told
his interpreter, Milroy Rasiah, during his trial at Isleworth
Crown Court that he wanted to kill himself by drinking
the fatal dose he had brought in his carrying case.
The
interpreter said, "Mr Ratnasabapathy put his hand
in the carrier bag. He had something wrapped in a small
paper packet. He opened the bottle and quickly started
putting the powder from the packet into the bottle. He
shook the bottle then he started drinking it very quickly."
This happened on June 28.
Giving
further evidence Rasiah said, "The judge ordered
that a doctor be called and that that Ratnasabapathy be
taken to the cells, where he died later."
Analysis
of his blood revealed 12 micrograms per milliliter of
the drug diphenhydramine, which was in the "fatal
range", John Slaughter, a forensic scientist, told
West London Coroner’s Court. The inquest continues.
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune