Man extradited from India on charges of rapes and murder gets life sentence

A 36-YEAR-OLD man, who was extradited from India, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for carrying out a “horrific” series of rapes that culminated in murder.

Aman Vyas, 36, of “no fixed address” had been convicted at the Old Bailey last month of the rape and murder of Michelle Samaraweera, and the rape of three other women in 2009.

The Croydon Crown Court on Thursday (20) sentenced him to 37 years in prison for murder, four counts of rape, and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The crimes had taken place between March 24 and May 30 in 2009. Vyas, then aged 24, would go out in the early hours of the morning preying on lone women, the court heard.

His first victim was a 59-year-old woman, who was punched “repeatedly in the face” before being raped.

According to police records, she was taken to hospital where doctors noted “bruising and swelling to her face and bleeding in the white of one of her eyes”.

The second attack was on a 46-year-old woman, who had agreed to take him to a place to buy drugs. She was threatened at knife-point, and punched in her face as she screamed, before being raped.

Vyas’s third victim was a 32-year-old woman, who was spotted “screaming and groaning” at a graveyard, with “a deep cut to her head, her clothing was awry”.

Her jaw and nose had been fractured, and she spent over a month in hospital, before formally speaking to the police on the incident.

Vyas’s last attack ended in the murder of Samaraweera, a 35-year-old widow.

A dogwalker found Samaraweera’s partially clothed body at a small park in Queens Road. It was later revealed that “she had been strangled and subjected to a sexual assault”.

Homicide detectives zeroed in on Vyas based on available evidence. However, a manhunt in 2009 revealed that the suspect had fled the UK, and was in Singapore after brief stays in India and New Zealand.

The trail went cold. But, in 2011, Indian sleuths arrested Vyas at the New Delhi airport. After long extradition proceedings, he was handed over to Met officers in October last year.

With the help of DNA tests, officers nailed Vyas, ensuring his conviction.

Detective Sergeant Shaleena Sheikh said: “Despite having DNA from the scenes of the crimes, Vyas was not on the database and this prompted a lengthy and complex investigation, which saw more than 1,100 DNA swabs taken and 1,815 addresses visited.

“We also issued more than 60,500 posters displaying an image of the suspect. The scale of this investigation has been remarkable and the case has lasted a decade, taking our enquiries to many different countries and resulting in a lengthy extradition process.”

The officer also commended the “dignity and bravery” displayed by the victims and their families over the past decade.

“At last the victims and their families have seen the man responsible for such terrible crimes brought to justice,” said Sheikh.

“This is a long sentence that recognises the cruelty and depravity of Vyas’s actions.”

Samaraweera’s sister Ann, said Vyas “potentially spending the rest of his life in prison” was “not a punishment but a privilege”.

“It will never be enough,” she added.

Recalling her “baby sister”, Ann said, “He will never understand what he put my mother, sisters, children, loved ones, friends and myself through.”

“Aman Vyas has had over 11 years to come clean and admit to raping and murdering my sister…. He has also had all this time to reflect on his own life and address the issues that have turned him into the monster that he is, but he didn’t.

“I hope one day Vyas finds it in his heart to confess and truly be sorry for the pain inflicted on the innocent women he violated.”