16:45 Friday 16th November 2001  
 

An emotional appeal for help in tracking down the brutal killers of a hard-working Sri Lankan man has been made by the girlfriend he left behind.

Kanthie Rathanapala, who worships at a church in Croydon, spoke this week about the shock of hearing of her boyfriend's murder and her desire for justice.

Sellathurai Balasingham, a Sri Lankan Tamil, was bludgeoned to death on November 6 last week on the housing estate in Norbury where he lived.

The attack happened after he had driven his P-registration Honda Civic car into Huntingdon Close at around 11pm.

He was chased by at least three men onto a ramp beside one of the houses, in a road between Kent Close and Huntingdon Close, and beaten repeatedly over his head with blunt instruments. He was pronounced dead an hour later.

Kanthie, 43, said she was not surprised when her boyfriend of six years - whom she calls Bala - did not return home that night from his job as a production manager, in South Wimbledon.

Since starting work as a packer at the Sunshine Service Group 13 years ago - where the couple first met - he had risen up the career ladder and often worked into the early hours.

She only became anxious the next morning, and had just called the company when the police arrived to say he had been murdered.

"I was crying, with my litt