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| Sunday, 18 August 2002 |
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All over a love affair by Clifford Landers from Australia MELBOURNE (Saturday) - A Sri Lankan who rescued his fiancee from her family home after she was held prisoner over their affair along with his other Lankan accomplice, was found guilty of aggravated burglary and assault by a country court jury here. Twenty-seven-year-old Janaka Gunawardane, a mechanic from Dandenong, and his friend 21-year-old Hiran Wanigasekara from Noble Park were convicted after the former's affair with an Indian woman was strongly disapproved by her parents due to religious differences. After pleading not guilty to the three charges of assault, aggravated burglary and criminal damage, the pair were accused of breaking into her family home, assaulting her brother and forcibly removing her. The events took place on July 12, 2000 after her parents vehemently disapproved their affair since Gunawardane was a Sri Lankan Buddhist and she was a Hindu. The 21-year-old woman, Poonam Prasad, told the jury that her family imprisoned her for over a month in her family home, was watched constantly and prevented her going to school during her final year of VCE after her mother learned she was secretly engaged to Gunawardane. But, Ms. Prasad told the jury that she managed to make a secret phone call to fiance Gunawardane inviting him to come and take her away since she loved him and wanted to be with him. Both friends were convicted of recklessly causing injury but cleared them of other assault charges. In his closing address, prosecutor R. Johnstone described the pair as star crossed lovers. "It did not matter whether they were in love, the law did not allow people to invade other people's houses", he said. Judge Leslie Roass allowed the two men to remain on bail pending a pre-sentence hearing. |
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