A FORMER child soldier convicted of murdering his new housemate in Penfield Gardens, after pinning the blame on three innocent men, will spend at least 23 years behind bars.
Ganeshamoorthy Thiyagarajah, 44, was convicted in May of murdering Mohammed Mansoor at a Broadacres Drive residence in March 2017.
He was sentenced in the Adelaide Supreme Court last Tuesday where he received life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 23 years.
Mr Mansoor had moved into the Penfield Gardens residence earlier on the day of the attack, before he was brutally stabbed with a kitchen knife more than 40 times.
Thiyagarajah called emergency services to the residence, where he staged the crime scene to implicate three innocent men in the murder, who sub-sequently spent close to a month in custody before being released.
He later admitted to the killing and pled guilty to manslaughter, but his plea was rejected and he was found guilty of murder by a lone judge, Justice David Lovell.
In sentencing, Justice Lovell accept- ed alcohol and undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming from Thiyagarajah’s experiences in the Sri
Lankan civil war, played a part in his decision to murder Mr Mansoor, but did not excuse his actions.
“I accept that you feel some remorse over what you have done, evidenced by your plea to manslaughter,” he said.
“However, throughout the trial you still failed to fully admit to and take responsibility for your actions.
“After admitting to killing Mr Mansoor, you then continued to lie and denigrate Mr Mansoor by suggesting that it was his behaviour that led you to be fighting with him.”
Justice Lovell said Thiyagarajah had given evidence during his trail that he was scared a group of Sri Lankan men – who Mr Mansoor knew, and had spoken to the night of his murder – were coming to kill him over a debt and their differing political alliances.
The group of men were associated with Sri Lankan rebel group the Tamil Tigers, while Thiyagarajah was recruited as a child soldier when he was 12 and later joined a paramilitary group associated with the Sri Lankan government.
Citing a statement by Mr Mansoor’s brother, Kalam Mohammed, Justice Lovell said the victim’s family relied solely on his income to survive.
“He (Mr Mansoor) was a husband and a father of three children,” he said.
“His wife mourns the loss of a person she described as a guardian, loving soul and caring dependent.
“Mr Mansoor’s parents are struggling to accept that their son is gone.
“His children and wife had not seen him for five years, and of course they will never see him again.”
Thiyagarajah was sentenced as an unlawful non-citizen, meaning he will likely be deported to Sri Lanka upon his release.
Gawler Youth premieres explosive new film
GAWLER Youth walked the red carpet earlier this month at the premiere of its latest film project ‘KA- BOOM’. The new film, the group’s fourth, was scripted and filmed with the creative input of local youths. KABOOM takes audiences back in time...