Jeyavani Vageswaran

Case record: Jeyavani Vageswaran

Status

Jeyavani Vageswaran committed suicide by hanging herself the same day.

Background

Jeyavani Vageswaran was a 33-year-old mother of two sons, Anopan and Nathiban. Her husband, Sakthivel Vageswaran, was an accountant. Sakthivel Vageswaran found their bodies when he returned from work at 5.20pm.

Sakthivel Vageswaran moved to England after fleeing Sri Lanka’s conflict with the Tamil population. He came to England about ten years earlier to escape a clampdown on the Tamils and to study at South Bank University. Jeyavani Vageswaran joined him in 2010. They bought their family home, where Sakthivel’s firm Vaasi Accountancy was based.

Friends and neighbours described the family and their circumstances in different ways, including that the couple had been struggling with their second baby and that they had marital problems.

The offence

A post-mortem examination showed that Jeyavani Vageswaran suffocated her two children before hanging herself.

Her sons were Anopan, five, and Nathiban, seven-month-old or eight-month-old in different accounts. Neighbours reported hearing a young baby crying non-stop at the house in Woodgrange Close last Wednesday night.

The deaths involved three deaths total: Jeyavani Vageswaran and her two sons.

Investigation

Police launched a murder investigation into the deaths of the children. Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the three deaths.

Detectives from the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command were not looking for anyone else in connection with the three deaths. An inquest into all three deaths was expected to open at Barnet Coroner’s Court later that week.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said Mrs Vageswaran and her sons were pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they were not seeking anyone else in connection with the incident and were investigating whether the mother had been suffering from post-natal depression. Post-mortem examinations on the children were due to be carried out on Tuesday, while a post-mortem on Mrs Vageswaran had already taken place and reported the cause of death as compression of the neck caused by hanging.

Arrest

No arrest was reported.

Trial

No trial was reported.

Sentencing

No sentencing was reported.

Appeals

No appeals were reported.

Outcome

A post-mortem examination showed Jeyavani Vageswaran died from compression to the neck caused by hanging. Post-mortem results showed the children were suffocated.

Post-mortem examinations on the children were due to be carried out.

Aftermath

The family lived in a two-bedroom first floor maisonette in Harrow. The children and Mrs Vageswaran were found at their maisonette in Woodgrange Close.

Sakthivel Vageswaran was said to be inconsolable and too distraught to talk. He was described as screaming for his babies and unable to set foot in the house again.

A spokesperson for Brent Council said it would be inappropriate to comment further whilst the police investigation was at such an early stage.

Other details

The incident involved the following individuals and quotations:

• Mrs Vageswaran’s husband, Sakthivel Vageswaran, was an accountant. A neighbour reported:
  • Tashma Brown, a neighbour, said: “They were always arguing and shouting.”
  • Jay Moises, a neighbour, said: “As soon as he [a neighbour] said there has been a murder I started shaking and I text my partner and said come home because I was worried.”
  • Cllr Reg Colwill, Conservative councillor for the Kenton ward, said: “It’s sad especially when children are involved.”
  • Cllr Reg Colwill added: “I think they (residents) would be shocked because we don’t get this kind of incident that much at this end of the borough.”
• Tashma Brown, 34, said: “I heard them through the walls shouting a lot and they even sometimes came outside and he would walk away.”
• Tashma Brown added: “The last time I heard them arguing was about a week before Christmas and then on Tuesday or Wednesday night the baby was crying for almost an hour … she sounded really upset and like she was telling him to shut up.”
• Neighbour reports included that Mrs Vageswaran was a recluse, described as:
  • “She is a not person you see often. “You only see her when she is coming out with the kids.”
• Jay Moises described his interaction with Mrs Vageswaran:
  • “As soon as he [a neighbour] said there has been a murder I started shaking and I text my partner and said come home because I was worried.”
• A friend of the couple, Santhan Sivapatham, said:
  • “Their first child was a very happy boy and very intelligent and always very friendly. They both were.”
  • “Sometimes, because my room was next door, he would come into my room and play.”
  • “I cried when I found out about this news because I still can’t believe it.”
  • “They wanted to live here because of the civil war in our country and I think he also came to finish his studies here. Then his wife came later so they could be here and enjoy life. It’s tragic.”
  • “I think after the second baby they had a problem, but I still don’t know what happened.”
  • “They were both dedicated and very intelligent people. She was a graduate from university and studied in Sri Lanka. He went to university too. They were both educated.”
  • “They always seemed a happy family and she was a very good mother.”
  • “It’s very sad and very strange.”
• Mahendran Sathyanarayanan, 39, a cousin, said:
  • “We are really feeling very sad. I’m feeling like I can’t believe it, maybe we will be able to believe it eventually.”
  • “He is inconsolable about it and still not properly able to speak about it.”
• Gowthamy Mahadeva, 49, who had known the couple for more than ten years, said:
  • “I saw him just this morning and his eyes are empty.”
  • “He’s screaming and crying for his babies and says he can’t set foot in that house again. It’s desperately sad.”
  • It’s desperately sad.”
• Gowthamy Mahadeva added:
  • “She had miscarried in 2011 she was a strong woman and she bounced back.”
  • “The morning of the tragedy she made her husband’s lunch before he went to work.”
  • “When he came home his children were lying dead in a black bag.”
  • “It’s hard to believe that such a gentle, maternal woman could do this.”
  • “Mrs Mahadeva said she and her friends had missed calls from Mrs Sakthivel on Wednesday – the day before the bodies were found – which she now believes was a cry for help.”
  • “I’m never going to forget missing that call.”
  • “She tried a few friends but when people called back on Thursday, there was no answer.”
• Neighbours described the family as “happy and smiling” and said the second baby had increased the strain on the couple.
• A Scotland Yard spokesman said:
  • “Mrs Sakthivel and her sons were pronounced dead at the scene.”
• Another neighbour said:
  • “People cannot believe that those lovely little boys are dead.”
• Another neighbour added: “She seemed like a good mother.”
• Another neighbour said: “She was on maternity leave from her job, but I don’t know what she did.”
• A neighbour said: “We were invited to their son’s fifth birthday party a couple of months ago and my mother commented on how clever the little boy was. He was a sweet boy.”
• Mrs Mahadeva said she last saw the couple on Christmas Day, when she said:
  • “She was her usual self – she was happy and smiling.”
  • “Just last Sunday she was on the phone with my sister-in-law discussing when she could start to feed the baby different foods – she seemed happy as ever.”
• Mrs Vageswaran was described as posting a photograph on Facebook on New Year’s Day, less than two weeks before the deaths and her suicide.