LONDON: A British woman charged with murdering her 5-year-old daughter has been remanded in custody after a short court hearing.
Metropolitan Police said that Sutha Sivanantham, 35, appeared via video link at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Friday over the death of Sayagi Sivanantham.
“Police were called to an address on Monarch Parade in Mitcham (south London) at 16:00hrs on Tuesday, 30 June to a report of two people injured,” Met. Police said on their website.
Detectives have launched a murder investigation following the death of a five-year-old girl in #Mitcham.
Read more: https://t.co/AhIGyGdvDF
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) July 1, 2020
The officers who attended the scene “found a woman and a girl suffering from knife wounds.”
Sayagi was taken to hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead soon after and a post-mortem examination at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital on July 3 gave the cause of death as stab injuries. Her mother was also taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Neighbor Elsa Gonzales, 47, said she heard screaming and crying coming from the flat next door and when she went round she found a woman and child in the bedroom.
Undated handout photo of Sayagi Sivanantham who died in hospital from knife wounds after an attack in a flat in Mitcham, south London, in June. (Metropolitan Police)
“I saw the woman lying on the floor in a pool of blood,” Ms Gonzales told the PA news agency at the time, adding “there was blood everywhere. It’s really breaking my heart, the child was a smart kid, she was always smiling.”
She described Sayagi as a “cheeky little girl, always playing with the neighborhood kids”.
The family are believed to be from Sri Lanka and had lived in the flat for about five years, The Sun newspaper reported.
Siobhain McDonagh, the Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, tweeted: “Truly tragic events in Mitcham over the last [two] days. My sincere condolences to family and friends.
“My thoughts are also with neighbors & residents who have witnessed such tragedy.”
The case has been sent to the Old Bailey, where a hearing is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
