Man jailed for beating dad-of-two to death with brick (From Croydon Guardian)

Illegal immigrant in jail after brutal brick killing in Croydon

2:20pm Monday 18th June 2012 in Local news

An illegal immigrant who battered a father-of-two to death with a brick has been jailed indefinitely.

Rostram Ahmadi, 23, was jailed under the Mental Health Act at the Old Bailey today after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Umesh Chaudhari just a few yards from the 41-year-old's house in Broad Green.

The court heard how Mr Chaudhari's wife and children rushed out of their house on Dennett Road to find Ahmadi repeatedly slamming a brick down on to his head in July last year.

It took the combined strength of two neighbours to wrestle the attacker away from the victim and pin him down on the floor until the police arrived.

Mr Chaudhari, who had come to the UK from Nepal in 2003 and worked 70 hours a week at Tesco in Addiscombe during the day and at a restaurant in the City of London at night, suffered multiple skull fractures and died.

Wife Rekha Sah said in a statement that he left for work at Tesco's earlier than usual to cover his boss' shift.

She said: "The incident happened outside the neighbour's house within five minutes of him leaving,"

Ahmadi claimed to be an 18 year-old refugee from Afghanistan but later said he was born in Iran in 1989.

He claimed asylum in the UK in 2007 but was refused an extension of his leave to remain in October 2010.

In February 2011 his appeal was dismissed and he should have left the country.

But three months later on May 30 last year he robbed a woman walking across Mitcham Common in south London.

He was released on bail and on July 6 last year attacked Mr Chaudhari.

Police officers arrived to find Ahmadi being restrained by three members of the public and Mr Chaudhari being cradled in the arms of his wife.

Witnesses described Ahmadi screaming threats even as the neighbours held him down him.

In custody he was seen to punch the walls and heard saying: "Do you know why I punched someone, because of Allah and jihad."

Psychiatrists later diagnosed Ahmadi as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

Ahmadi, also of Dennett Road, was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

He has previous convictions for battery and theft in 2010 and criminal damage in April 2011.

Judge Richard Marks QC ordered him to be detained indefinitely under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act.

The judge said: "The particular tragedy of these evens is compounded by the fact is you should not even have been in this country.

"Umesh Chaudhari was a good man. He was in every way a fine upstanding member of the community and a devoted family.

"The loss suffered by his wife and children cannot be overstated. The pain they have had to endure is difficult to comprehend.

"It is clear you continue to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia although you are responding to treatment. I have do doubt whatsoever that it was you very serious illness that explains how and why you did what you did."