East Ham woman jailed for manslaughter of husband

A PRISON SENTENCE of 28 months was handed down to 75 year old Packiam Ramanathan of Burges Road, E6 at the Old Bailey on 5th April. Ramanathan had pleaded not guilty to murder of her husband, Kangusabi Ramanathan, but had admitted manslaughter. She was convicted of the manslaughter on 1st April.

The charges arose out of an incident on 21st September last year. The London Ambulance Service was called out to the house in Burges Road which the couple had live in since 2007 – and found 76 year old Mr Ramanathan had died. They called out the police. A long pole, which was stained with blood, was found: it was later established that this was the weapon used in a fatal assault on Mr Ramanathan. Two days later, Packiam Ramanathan was charged with the murder of her husband.

The court heard that the couple often visited Sri Lanka and that Ms Ramanathan became reluctant to return to the UK afterwards – until, in 2012, she did not return to live in the UK. Witnesses confirmed that the couple often argued, often about money. Mr Ramanathan’s health deteriorated. Relatives in the UK cared for him, and his wife returned to the UK in March 2018.

The circumstances of Mr Ramanathan’s body being found are most unusual. He usually phoned a relative who had been caring for him before his wife’s return every morning, but on 21st September he did not phone. She went to his home and Ms Ramanathan opene the door to her and, quite calmly, told her that she had beaten her husband and he had died. The relative was shocked and frightened and ran off. She rang her husband and asked him to come home.

The relative then saw Ms Ramanathan leave her home. She asked Ms Ramanathan where she was going, and Ms Ramanathan just said “Wimbledon”. The relative’s husband arrived home a few minutes later and the couple called the Ambulance Service.

Police used Ms Ramanathan’s mobile phone number to trace her. When police found her at a friend’s house in Wimbledon, Ms Ramanathan told them she had been expecting them. Police found that she had hidden a handbag at her friend’s house: this contained a photocopy of her passport, three passport photos, and a large amount of money.

Detective Sergeant Anthony Atkin, the investigating officer from the Metropolitan Police Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “The jury carefully considered the evidence placed before them and felt that this was a sad case whereby Packiam Ramanathan had killed her husband, Kangusabi. In a moment, for one or a number of reasons, she lost self-control therefore is not guilty of murder but of manslaughter, to which Packiam had already pleaded guilty to.

“This was a tragic case whereby an elderly, vulnerable man lost his life and the circumstances surrounding how and why needed to be put to a jury in order that they could listen to Packiam’s account and test this against the evidence. I thank them for their time and careful deliberations following which they came to this verdict. I hope the conviction and sentencing will give some closure to Kangusabi’s family.”

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