Image by Metropolitan Police

61-year-old Subrahmaniam Sathananthan, a resident of Pembroke Close, Wembley, was found guilty of 10 sexual assault and indecency charges on Tuesday, 21 March after a trial at Isleworth Crown Court.

The counts are as follows:

1. One indecent assault on a male contrary to section 15(1) Sexual Offences Act 1956;
2. Seven counts of indecent assault contrary to section 14(1) Sexual Offences Act 1956;
3. Two counts of indecency with a child contrary to section 1(1) of the Indecency Act 1960

On April 27, 2019, two reports were made to police that Sathananthan had sexually assaulted two people, a girl and a boy, known to him.

The victim-survivors reported that at the ages of 12 years old and 9 to 13 years old, Sathananthan used his position of trust as a family friend to sexually assault them in their homes.

Sathananthan was regularly invited to the victim’s family home for dinners and socialising. During these visits, he had asked one of the victim’s to help with creating some documents for his new business. This was agreed by both individuals and the work took place in the victim’s bedroom where a computer was located.

The man used this private setting to take advantage of her and sexually assault her, explaining that it should be “just between you and me” and “no one else needs to know”.

Throughout the years that the assaults took place, he bought the victim expensive gifts, including sunglasses and perfumes.

A few years later, whilst at university, the victim had a skype call with her family, where she disclosed the incidents to them. This led to the second victim revealing that the same assaults had happened to him as well. He detailed that Santhananthan would assault him when nobody else was in the house, again taking advantage of a private setting.

Following the reports to police, Santhananthan was arrested on 10 May, 2019 and he denied any involvement in any sexual offences against either of the victims.

He will be sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on 16 June, 2023.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Smithson, of the Met’s Public Protection Team, said, “I commend the bravery of both victim-survivors in coming forward and reporting the assaults to us. My team and I have ensured that full support has been given to them both throughout the investigation, as we worked towards getting justice for them.

“I want to reiterate that anyone who reports a sexual offence whether historical or present, you will be listened to and believed from the start.”