Thaindian News

London, March 26 (IANS) Thusha Kamaleswaran, a five-year-old Asian-origin girl once dreamt of growing up as a dancer. But her dream has been dashed by a murderous attempt which left her paralysed for life in Britain.

Three members of a notorious gang mistakenly blasted the little girl in the chest while she was happily skipping in the aisles of her uncle’s corner shop last March in Stockwell, south London, the Daily Mail reported.

Though Nathaniel Grant, 21, Kazeem Kolawole, 19, and Anthony McCalla, 20, who shot up Thusha have been jailed, she will have to wear a brace and leg splints permanently. She will need a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

She had been caught in the crossfire of a tit-for-tat gang feud and twice went into cardiac arrest as paramedics frantically battled to save her.

Thusha, who remained in a medically induced coma for a month, was shot in her uncle’s Food and Wine store, March 29, 2011.

The bicycling attackers had been chasing a rival gang member into the store.

Also, Roshan Selvakumar, 35, who lived upstairs and was buying groceries, was hit in the face by the second shot.

The attackers were members of the infamous Brixton-based GAS gang - short for Guns And Shanks - and were hunting youths from the rival ABM - or All ‘Bout Money - gang, based in neighbouring Stockwell.

Gangsters Grant and Kolawole claimed they had been wrongly identified and McCalla insisted he thought he was only taking part in a cannabis robbery.

An Old Bailey jury, however, convicted them of wounding the two victims with intent and the attempted murder of rival gang member Roshaun Bryan.

Thusha’s mother, Sharmila, and her father, Jeyakumar Ghanasekaram, sat quietly watching from the well of court as the trio were convicted.