British-Indian found guilty of killing father with champagne bottle
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 Jan, 2023 12:40 PM
London, Jan 30 (IANS) A British-Indian man has been found guilty of bludgeoning his father to death with a champagne bottle in a drunken rage two years ago.
Deekan Singh Vig, 54, murdered his 86-year-old father Arjan Singh Vig on the evening of October 30, 2021 at their family home in Southgate, north London.
Police had found Deekan naked and surrounded by about 100 bottles of champagne, including a blood-stained Veuve Clicquot and Bollinger, The Independent reported.
He reportedly told the police: "I killed my dad. I hit him over the head with a f*****g bloody bottle of Bollinger champagne."
The father's body was found on the floor of Deekan's bedroom with the "head caved in", the Old Bailey court heard.
Vig admitted manslaughter but was found guilty of murder after a jury deliberated for less than a day, the report said.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC, told the court that the victim was hit repeatedly in the face and head with a full bottle of champagne causing extensive injuries and almost immediate death.
A post-mortem examination identified injuries "entirely consistent with an assault with a full champagne bottle", Heer told the court.
Deekan, who helped his father in the family business, had developed a taste for alcohol during the Covid lockdown.
Police uncovered 100 bottles of champagne, 10 Amazon delivery boxes of whisky bottles, and an empty bottle of Talisker Scotch on the bed at the crime scene.
Deekan, who had moved to Britain from Uganda along with his family, claimed he had autism and that his father had attacked him.
He also admitted to drinking 500 ml of whisky a few hours before the murder.
Judge Angela Rafferty on Friday adjourned Deekan's sentencing until February 10 and remanded him into custody.
The Biden administration has kept in place travel restrictions that have severely curtailed international trips to the U.S., citing the spread of the delta variant of the virus. Under the rules, non-U.S. residents who have been to China, the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and India in the prior 14 days are prohibited from entering the U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last week warned the Delta variant of the virus is so contagious, vaccinated people who do get infected could be just as big a risk to others as people who aren't vaccinated.
The new requirement, which will be phased in over several weeks in August and September, is the most aggressive step the city has taken yet to curb a surge in cases caused by the delta variant.
The findings have the potential to upend past thinking about how the disease is spread. Previously, vaccinated people who got infected were thought to have low levels of virus and to be unlikely to pass it to others. But the new data shows that is not the case with the delta variant.
President Joe Biden is calling on states and local governments to join those that are already handing out dollars for shots. New York, the nation's biggest city, started doling out $100 awards on Friday.
