An autistic man who shot dead a custody sergeant in a police cell has been found guilty of murder after a trial which heard he bought an antique weapon on the internet, made his own bullets for it, hid it from arresting officers and fired it while in handcuffs.
Louis De Zoysa, 25, pulled out the revolver and shot dead Sergeant Matt Ratana, 54, in a holding cell in Croydon custody centre in south London on Sep. 25, 2020. The jury watched footage of the incident, in which De Zoysa fires a total of four shots.
De Zoysa’s defence counsel, Imran Khan, KC, proffered a defence of diminished responsibility, claiming his client suffered an “autistic meltdown” at the time of the shooting but the jury found him guilty of murder on Friday.
De Zoysa—who himself suffered brain damage when the fourth shot struck him in the neck—faces a mandatory life sentence when he is sentenced on July 27.
The trial at the Old Bailey heard De Zoysa was bullied at school because he was “vulnerable” and an “easy target.”
He obtained A grades in his A-Levels for maths, chemistry and physics and attended University College London but dropped out before completing his degree.
De Zoysa then got a job at HMRC working as a coder.
De Zoysa Made Bullets For Antique Revolver
Prosecutor Duncan Penny, KC, told the jury: “So if you want the gun to work, you have to make the bullets. Louis de Zoysa bought the parts to make the bullets. He had made the ammunition for the gun at the farm where he lived.”“Louis de Zoysa knew the gun worked with the bullets he had made. Louis de Zoysa fired the gun at Sergeant Ratana. At the time, the gun was loaded with bullets. Louis de Zoysa had made those bullets,” Penny added.
De Zoysa was arrested on a street in Norbury, south London at 1:30 a.m. by police officers investigating a string of burglaries in the area.
The jury was shown body-worn camera footage from the arresting officers—identified only as Davey and Still—which showed De Zoysa being asked if he had anything on him like needles or razor blades which could hurt them.
They then searched him, his coat pockets, his waistband, and his holdall and found cannabis and seven rounds of ammunition, which he told them were blanks.
De Zoysa was then handcuffed and transported to Croydon police station, but inexplicably, the arresting officers failed to find the weapon.
Penny said: “The police officers did not find that Louis De Zoysa was carrying a loaded revolver in a holster. The gun and holster were probably concealed under one of his armpits.”
Self-Inflicted Injuries
Because of his self-inflicted injuries De Zoysa—who appeared in court in a wheelchair, with one arm in a sling—has difficulty speaking and used a whiteboard to communicate with his legal team during the trial.When he gave evidence, he was asked by Khan: “Are you guilty of murder, Louis?”
De Zoysa said “no” but later said he did not understand the word “guilty.”
Khan asked the defendant: “Can you tell us why you fired the gun, Louis?”
De Zoysa replied, “Panic attack.”
During his testimony, De Zoysa claimed his father had been a violent drug dealer and he claimed he once hit his father on the head with a metal rod, which he said had possibly been triggered by his autism.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr. Dinesh Maganty was called as a defence witness, having examined CCTV footage, the defendant’s medical records and statements from those who knew him.
Khan asked Maganty: “Having assessed all of this material, is it your considered opinion that Louis De Zoysa suffered an autistic meltdown at the time of the index offence in this case?”
Maganty replied: “If the account given by him to me is accepted and the prosecution narrative is not, then yes. But if the prosecution narrative is accepted in its entirety, then no.”
An investigation is still ongoing into the circumstances which led to De Zoysa being arrested and brought to Croydon custody centre while still in possession of a gun.
