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Viktor
DEMBOVSKIS
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Rape
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
May 16,
2005
Date
of arrest:June 2, 2005 (in
Latvia)
Date of birth: 1963
Victim profile: Jeshma Raithatha,
17
Method of murder: Stabbing
with knife
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to life in prison on March 28, 2006
Viktors Dembovskis,
44. Murdered Jeshma Raithatha, 17, in 2005 as she walked home from
school. He had been jailed twice in his native Latvia for rape.
Convicted 2006.
Death fall teen never got over
tragedy of her sister's rape and murder
DailyMail.co.uk
14th August 2009
A teenager left tormented by the brutal rape and
murder of her older sister plunged to her death from the top of a car
park, an inquest heard.
Nishma Raithatha, 15, never came to terms with the
murder of her sister Jeshma four years ago.
A-level student Jeshma, 17, was repeatedly raped and
stabbed in the heart by Viktor Dembovskis on her way home from school in
May 2005.
The Latvian had been allowed into
Britain despite a string of rape convictions in his country.
Nishma was 12 at the time and yesterday an inquest
heard the ordeal left her 'unwell' including suffering from depression.
No more details of her illnesses were disclosed to
Hornsey Coroners Court but coroner Andrew Walker said he was not 'satisfied
so I am sure' that her death was a suicide and recorded a narrative
verdict.
Nishma's death days before her 16th birthday in
Harrow, north west London, meant engineer Suresh and admin clerk
Manjula had lost two daughters in less than four years.
Referring to a diary written by Nishma in the years
after her sister's death, the coroner asked the family: 'It seems to me
that in this terrible tragedy, and underneath it all, is it right that
Nishma never came to terms with the loss of her sister who had been
murdered and this made her unwell?'
Relatives in court including her
mother, aunt and brother, all agreed.
Mr Walker said: 'Nishma fell from a building to her
death. She had never come to terms with the loss of her sister who had
been murdered and this had made her unwell.
'I know there is nothing I will ever be able to say
to comfort you for a loss of this magnitude.
'One thing I can is that Nishma was looked after by
her family and given every support through this illness. She could not
have had better support from her family and friends.
'The loss of one child is devastating - the loss of
two I can only begin to think how devastating that might be.'
Recording his verdict, he said before recording a
suicide verdict he had to be sure that the person intended to take their
own life.
He said: 'I am very much moved from what I have read
in the notes left by Nishma and having read them I can't be satisfied so
I am sure that her death was a suicide.
'In my judgement she did not kill herself.'
She was found by police after falling from the car
park at St George's shopping centre in Harrow, north west London, on 7
April this year.
Nishma was pronounced dead at the scene less than an
hour later and the cause of death was given as multiple injuries.
A report from GP Genevieve Small said over the last
two years they had tried to help her recover from depression.
Dembovskis raped and killed Jeshma in
west London six months after he arrived in Britain.
He fled to Latvia but was extradited and jailed for
life at the Old Bailey after a trial. He had been jailed several times
in Latvia, where a prosecutor once warned: 'One day this man will kill.'
Last night, her family issued a statement which said:
'We are devastated by the loss of our beautiful and talented daughter
Nishma.
'Nishma found it very difficult to come to terms with
her older sister Jeshma's death.
'Nishma was loved by her family and friends,
receiving continuous care and support to deal with the trauma of losing
her sister. House moves and family trips abroad helped her deal with her
grief, however this proved only temporary.
'We have lost two beautiful daughters as a
consequence of Jeshma's murderer, who came to Britain with a violent
past.
'We try to console ourselves in the belief that
Nishma and Jeshma are together in a better place where there is no evil,
and pain cannot touch their tender hearts.
'We are satisfied with the coroner's verdict
announced today at the inquest into Nishma's death.
'The family continue to grieve and kindly request the
press to allow us some privacy, so we are able to get back to some sort
of normality, if that is ever possible.'
Younger sister of murdered
schoolgirl jumps to her death from multi-storey car park
The younger sister of a schoolgirl who was raped and
murdered by a serial sex offender has leapt to her death from a multi-storey
car park four days before her 16th birthday
By Richard Savill - I.telegraph.co.uk
24 Apr 2009
Nishma Raithatha, 15, is said to have struggled to
come to terms with the murder of her older sister Jeshma nearly four
years ago.
Jeshma, an A-level student, who was an aspiring
singer and actress, had been abducted as she walked from school to her
home in Greenford, west London, three days before her 18th birthday in
2005.
She was sexually assaulted and stabbed through the
heart by Viktor Dembovskis, 47, a Latvian national who had been allowed
into Britain, despite having twice been convicted of raping women at
knifepoint in his native country.
He received three life sentences at the Old bailey in
May 2006.
Nishma, who was 12 at the time of her sister's death,
took time off school to try to come to terms with the trauma.
A relative said: "Nishma never
recovered from her sister's death. With the anniversary coming up it
just became too difficult for her. Her parents tried to help. It should
not happen to a family once, but it has happened to our family twice."
The sisters' parents Suresh and Manjula Raithatha and
their brother Trishul were being comforted at their semi-detached home
in South Harrow, London.
Nishma fell to her death from a multi-storey car park
at St George's shopping centre in Harrow on April 7 this year. Scotland
Yard said her death was not being treated as suspicious.
Terry Molloy, headteacher at Claremont High School in
Kenton, Harrow, where both girls were pupils, said Nishma's death was a
"tragic loss", and the school would take a "great deal of time" to come
to terms with it.
He said: "We have lost a valued member of our
community. We would like to pay tribute to Nishma's spirit and her all
too rarely seen sense of humour.
"Nishma had clearly fought a long and personally
distressing battle to accept the loss of her older sister. It was clear
to her teachers that she carried this loss with her throughout her time
in school."
A tribute page to Nishma has been set up on the
social networking site Facebook where hundreds of her friends have left
messages.
Life sentence for Jeshma killer
BBC News
Wednesday, 29 March 2006
A Latvian man who raped and murdered a
teenager as she walked home from school has been given three life
sentences.
Viktor Dembovskis, 43, attacked Jeshma Raithatha as
the 17-year-old made her way along a footpath near her home in Greenford,
west London, last May.
Her body was discovered eight days later. She had
been strangled, raped and then stabbed to death.
Sentencing Dembovskis at the Old Bailey, Judge Peter
Beaumont said he would never be released.
Jurors took three hours to find Dembovskis guilty of
murder and two counts of rape.
A-level student Miss Raithatha, an aspiring actress
and singer, was attacked three days before her 18th birthday.
Blood-stained necklaces
Jurors heard Dembovskis lay in wait for her, choosing
a "den" in thick undergrowth where they would not be seen.
Miss Raithatha was raped while she was still
unconscious, then stabbed to death to stop her identifying Dembovskis,
who had been living near her family home in Greenford.
Swabs taken from the teenager matched Dembovskis' DNA
and two blood-stained necklaces, stolen from Miss Raithatha, were found
in a fleece jacket left at his home.
He fled the country four days later after realising
he had left his keys at the murder scene.
Her family, who were in court to hear the verdicts,
said her life had been taken in a "senseless manner".
In a statement they said: "She had such hopes and
dreams for her future which was cut short in the most cruel and horrific
manner."
They also demanded to know why Dembovskis was allowed
to live in the country despite having been jailed for raping two women
in Latvia.
"What checks were made about his background before he
was allowed to set foot on British soil?"
They said his sentence should serve as a warning "that
the taking of innocent lives will not be tolerated in a civilised
society".
Dembovskis was flown back to London from Livani, 90
miles south-east of the Latvian capital Riga, to face trial.
The court heard he had twice been convicted of raping
women at knifepoint in Latvia, in 1990 and 1999 and had a "propensity"
to sexually assault women.
The Home Office said more co-operation was needed
between EU states to ensure dangerous criminals were monitored.
But it said since joining the EU, Latvian nationals
were free to come to the UK and a criminal record was not an automatic
barrier to entry.
Sentencing Dembovskis, Judge Beaumont told him: "You
have not displayed one jot of remorse for the appalling crimes you
committed against that girl or the consequences to her family.
"You have twisted, lied and cast about for any excuse
you could think of to avoid your responsibility for the abduction of a
17-year-old girl as she made her way home in broad daylight."
Det Insp John Crossley, the investigating officer,
paid tribute to the family's bravery and dignity.
He added: "Despite the overwhelming evidence against
him, Dembovskis has fought the case all the way putting the family
through the trauma of a trial."
Jeshma suspect to be extradited
BBC News
Monday, 20 June, 2005
Latvian authorities have said a man wanted
over the rape and murder of 17-year-old student Jeshma Raithatha
will be extradited to the UK.
Viktors Dembovskis, 42, who had lived near Jeshma in
west London, is in custody in Preile, south-east Latvia.
Jeshma was stabbed to death on 16 May, by a footpath
near her home in Sudbury Hill, west London, on her way home after
shopping at Wembley High Road.
Mr Dembovskis, a Latvian national, has 10 days to
appeal against the ruling.
Prime suspect
"We have decided to extradite Viktors Dembovskis to
Great Britain," Andrejs Vasks, a spokesman for the Latvian prosecutor
general's office told news agency AFP.
If Mr Dembovskis, who has denied the allegations,
decides to appeal it could take up to one month for a court to make a
final ruling.
The suspect, who worked in a carwash in London, was
arrested after he was discovered in his home town of Livani, in eastern
Latvia, earlier this month.
Scotland Yard detectives were joined by Interpol and
the Latvian authorities in the hunt for Mr Dembovskis.
Jeshma was reported missing by her parents on 16 May
after she failed to return home from school, but it was eight days
before her body was found.
Police believe she was grabbed by a stranger, taken
to a secluded wooded "den", raped and stabbed three times through the
heart.
Jeshma killed in 'random attack'
BBC News
Tuesday, 31 May, 2005
A-Level student Jeshma Raithatha was raped and
murdered at random as she walked home from school, police said.
Jeshma, 17, is thought to have been grabbed by a
stranger on a secluded footpath in Sudbury Hill, west London, at about
1500 BST on 16 May.
At first police thought she died six days later, but
now believe she was murdered on the day she disappeared.
They are still looking for a man who lived near
Jeshma but has gone missing from his home.
His and two other houses in Dimmock Drive are being
searched by officers, but police have refused to identify the man.
Jeshma's partially clothed body was dumped in dense
undergrowth at the back of a leisure centre. She had been raped and
stabbed three times through the heart.
Detectives initially thought she had been killed
elsewhere, but now think she was grabbed as she walked along the
footpath and forced into a "wooded den". Her body lay undiscovered for
eight days.
Jeshma's aunt, speaking to BBC News, said on Tuesday:
"There has been a lot of speculation recently, a lot of it wrong, but a
random attack is something we had been thinking about.
"We just now hope they catch her killer.
"Jeshma was a young, smart funny, bubbly girl with
everything to look forward to. All that has now been snatched away."
Details of Jeshma's last movements were outlined by
police who are hoping more witnesses will come forward.
She had been to school to study for her exams and
left at 1300 BST, catching the bus to Wembley High Road, where she went
shopping in Primark and TownCity.
She then got the 92 bus back to Sudbury Hill, where
she arrived at about 1500 BST.
As she headed home, she took a footpath through the
wooded area where she was killed. The area is still being searched for
clues.
Detectives plan to release CCTV footage of Jeshma
shopping on Wembley High Road.
Her mother said Jeshma, who would have turned 18 days
after her disappearance, was committed to her studies and wanted to
study music and media at university.
She rarely went out at night on her own and was
usually picked up from school, but as an A-Level student was not
expected in school all day and had left early.
Det Ch Supt Andy Murphy said: "She did not have a
complicated life in any way, shape or form. It appears she was the
victim of a random attack."
Missing teenager stabbed to death
BBC News
Thursday, 26 May, 2005
An A-level student was stabbed to death near
her home nearly a week after she disappeared, police believe.
Jeshma Raithatha was stabbed through the heart and
left in bushes near a footpath in Sudbury Hill, west London.
The last reported sighting of her was on Monday 16
May, but police think she was murdered on 22 May.
Police say the "full circumstances" are not yet known,
but want reports of anyone seen acting suspiciously in that area last
week.
Jeshma's parents Suresh and Manjula reported her
missing after she did not return home on 16 May.
Staff saw her at Claremont High School in Kenton at
about 1400 BST but that was last reported sighting. Her family had said
it was very out of character for Jeshma to disappear.
She was due to turn 18 last week and should have
taken her first A-level exam on Monday.
Instead police spent eight days trying to trace her,
before finding her body in undergrowth by the recreation ground between
the David Lloyd leisure centre and Greenford Road, behind Sudbury Tower.
Det Supt Sue Hill said police were keeping an open
mind about why Jeshma was killed. She wants any of Jeshma's friends, who
may have seen her after 16 May, to contact police.
"'This is a very tragic case, and a very distressing
time for Jeshma's family and friends," she said.
"We are working hard to collect the facts and
evidence that will help us solve this case."
'Evil person'
Jeshma was last seen wearing a blue jumper, navy
jeans and carrying a black schoolbag with red hearts. Her family had
said her disappearance was "completely out of character".
In a statement, her mother and father said: "The
family is devastated and is distressed at this time and request that the
media now respect our privacy and allow us to grieve in peace.
"Our beautiful and loving daughter has been taken
away from us by an evil person.
"If anyone has seen or knows anything that will help
catch her killer please contact police."
Staff at Claremont High School, in Kenton, where
Jeshma had been due to sit her first A-Level exam on Monday, described
her as a "caring and creative young woman".
"At this very sad time, our hearts go out to her
family," they said in a statement.
