Horror of cross-dressing lawyer
A LEADING human rights lawyer was pushed to his death under a Tube train by a transsexual friend, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.
Cross-dresser David Burgess died instantly when he was hit by the train in front of shocked commuters, the jury was told.
Mr Burgess, 63, also known as Sonia, had earlier accompanied the friend Senthooran Kanagasingham, 35, to a dotor’s appointment.
Kanagasingham denies murder but admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Mr Burgess, from Shaftesbury Avenue, central London, was happy to remain biologically male and had not tried to change his gender, the court heard. Kanagasingham, also known as Nina, was taking hormone therapy to change his sex but was seeking anti-depressants on the day of the killing in October, last year.
Mr Burgess had befriended Kanagasingham after they met at a club.
Sri Lankan-born Kanagasingham visited Mr Burgess every week and often spent hours talking about his troubles, the jury was told.
The lawyer, who was referred to as Sonia in court, was worried that his friend was becoming “too needy” but agreed to go to the GP’s surgery with him.
On the day he died, Mr Burgess was first seen dressed as “David” but later appeared as “Sonia,” the court heard.
The pair went to the surgery in Cricklewood, north London, where Kanagasingham agreed to let Mr Burgess sit in on the consultation.
Brian Altman, QC, prosecuting, said: “During the appointment, Sonia asked if she could speak.
“She indicated she was concerned about Nina’s levels of stress and anxiety.
“It is significant that, according to the doctor, the defendant clearly disapproved of Sonia’s opinion of him.
“He uttered a firm, ‘No’.”
They returned via the underground and CCTV showed the pair waiting on the westbound Piccadilly Line platform at King’s Cross station, central London.
Kanagasingham, from Cricklewood, is clearly seen pushing his friend into the path of the oncoming train, the jury was told.
Mr Altman told the court that Kanagasingham’s actions were “entirely deliberate and executed with the intention of killing Sonia Burgess”.
He added: “After all, it could hardly have been done with any lesser intention than to send her to her death.”
After Mr Burgess died, the legal world paid tribute to his work which had led to several landmark rulings in the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights.
The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues.