Deekan Singh Vig left his 86-year-old father with his “head caved in” after bludgeoning him with a champagne bottle, a court has heard. Vig was found naked, surrounded by 100 bottles of Champagne, including blood-stained bottles. The 54-year-old allegedly said: “I killed my dad. I hit him over the head with a bloody bottle of Bollinger champagne.” Vig admitted the manslaughter of his father, shopkeeper Arjan Singh Vig at the family home in Southgate, north London, on October 30, last year, but denies murder.
On the opening day of the trial at the Old Bailey Deanna Heer, KC, said the victim was hit repeatedly in the face with full bottles of Champagne.
At the time of the incident, Vig lived with his father and mother, Damanjit Vig, 85.
The family moved to the UK from Uganda when Vig was aged five.
Ms Keer said the defendant accepted killing his father and that he had done nothing to justify the attack, but did not mean to cause him serious harm.
The court heard that Vig had acquired a taste for alcohol during the pandemic and on the evening of the attack Ms Vig heard vomiting from her son’s room.
He told his mother he had drunk half a bottle of whiskey.
The last thing she saw was her husband comforting their son, the court heard.
The jurors heard that Ms Vig rang her daughter after her son appeared “out of control” and “drunk” before she rang the police.
Upon arrival police pushed open the bedroom door and saw Mr Vig’s head covered in blood, the court heard.
The defendant said he could not open the door, saying: “You’re too late. He’s been dead for an hour.”
The prosecutor told the court that Mr Vig’s head had been “severely caved in” and it was obvious he was dead.
Vig was found naked with blood on his hands, legs and feet before he was tasered and put in handcuffs when he became verbally abusive and aggressive, Ms Heer said.
Later on that evening Vig allegedly cried saying: “My Dad is dead. I killed my Dad. I hit him over the head with a f****** bloody bottle of Bollinger champagne. Why did I kill my Dad.”
He added: “Oh shit. I killed my dad. He could have just died from a heart attack. I f****** hit him with a bottle of f****** Champagne… I hate French Champagne.”
He admitted to drinking 500mls of whiskey on the evening in question in a two-hour period.
At the crime scene, police uncovered 100 bottles of Champagne, 10 Amazon delivery boxes of whiskey bottles, and an empty bottle of Talisker Scotch on the bed.
Beside Mr Vig’s body were two bottles of Champagne with a “significant amount” of blood on them.
A post-mortem examination identified injuries “entirely consistent with an assault with a full Champagne bottle”, Ms Heer said.
The trial continues.
