Brazilian man admits to killing Hyderabad woman in London, sent to mental health facility

A Brazilian man has been sentenced to detention in a mental hospital after admitting to the fatal stabbing of a 27-year-old woman from Hyderabad, India, and the attempted murder of her Indian roommate in a shared house in Wembley in 2023. What has really shocked people is that the killer, on psychiatric treatment, was deemed mentally sound weeks before the murder.

Tejaswini Kontham Reddy from Champapet in Hyderabad, used to stay with her friends at a residential property in Neeld Crescent, Wembley in London. Wembley is a large suburb in north-west London.

Keven Antonio Lourenco De Morais, a Brazilian builder, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, brutally murdered Tejeswini Kontham, and stabbed her roommate, Akhila Janagama, also from India, five times at their shared flat in Wembley last year.

The incident occurred just weeks after De Morais was deemed stable by mental health services.

On June 13, 2023, De Morais, who had been living in the UK since 2020, attacked Tejeswini and Akhila as they prepared to leave for work.

Akhila, who survived the attack, described the terrifying moment she found Tejeswini lying on the kitchen floor with De Morais standing over her.

De Morais then turned on Akhila, stabbing her repeatedly before she managed to barricade herself in her room and call the police.

Tejeswini, then 27, died from an 11cm stab wound to the chest that penetrated her heart, lung, and oesophagus, according to MyLondon.

Akhila, now 29, suffered five separate stab wounds and still experiences pain from nerve damage.

The attack has left both families devastated, with Tejeswini’s family in India losing their financial support and Akhila too traumatised to stay in the country or continue her employment.

“I still have permanent marks on my body which remind me of the incident every day,” Akhila said. “I still can’t believe how my life was turned into darkness in such a short space of time… I think about it every day, if there was anything I could have done differently to save my friend Teju,” reported MyLondon.

De Morais, who had been admitted to Holybourne Hospital in Roehampton on April 14, 2023, was discharged on anti-psychotic medication on April 20.

He was then placed in the care of the Merton Home Treatment team, who discharged him to his GP two days later.

Despite reporting he was symptom-free and taking his medication, De Morais stopped taking his medication, which led to his psychotic episode.

Professor Nigel Blackwood, a clinical forensic psychiatrist, testified that De Morais’s illness was genuine and not an attempt to hide behind the consequences of his actions.

“The lack of insight is part of his psychotic illness. The fact he was not complying with the medication should not be seen as culpability,” Blackwood said, reported MyLondon.

De Morais pleaded guilty to Tejeswini’s manslaughter by diminished responsibility and Akhila’s attempted murder.

He was sentenced to a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983, with a Section 41 restriction order intended to protect the public from future harm, according to a news outlet, MyLondon.

De Morais will be sent to River House medium secure unit at Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham, according to the report.

“The defendant has shown genuine remorse for what he has done. Though he finds it difficult to talk about, he expresses deep regret and shame,” said Defence counsel Eloise Marshall KC.