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| Sunday, 13 February 2005 |
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Breakthrough in Gerard Perera case Crime Sunday by Jaympathy Jayasinghe The mystery shrouding the killing of Gerard Mervyn Perera has been unravelled following the arrest of the assassin who disappeared after shooting last November. The shooting took place on 21 November last year around 11.45 a.m. when Gerard Mervyn Perera was travelling in a bus at Mabola opposite the Samarasinghe Oil Mill. The assassin after firing two shots at Perera had escaped in a get away vehicle. Police say the plot was meticulously planned and executed with precision. The get away vehicle had been trailing the bus for some distance to pick up the assassin after he finishes his job. At the time of the shooting Perera had been in the bus seated along with other passengers. The gunman who came from behind had fired two shots from a 9. mm. weapon. After receiving the lethal shots Perera had slumped in his seat and dropped on the floor-board. There was pandemonium and chaos in the bus when the shooting took place. People yelled and screamed and some even leapt out fearing the wrath of the assassin. The assassin after firing made a dramatic escape from the bus. Several passengers who witnessed the gory incident had seen the assassin boarding a car and vanishing. Perera who was critically wounded in the shooting was rushed to the National Hospital Colombo where he succumbed to his injuries three days later. The Wattala Police visited the scene of the shooting and found two empty rounds of 9. m.m. ammunition inside the bus. The question that baffled senior police officers was to find the assassin responsible for Gerard Mervyn Perera's murder and the motive for killing him. He was a cook employed at the Colombo Harbour and was a resident of 52/ B, Mihindu Mawatha Makawita Ja-ela. He did not have arch enemies who were trying to liquidate him. But some where in 2002, the Wattala police had wanted to question Gerad Perera regarding a triple murder case. He was subsequently arrested and tortured while being interrogated. Gerad Meryn Perera filed a fundamental rights application before the Supreme Court, alleging that he was tortured by the Wattala police. The Supreme Court granted him relief by ordering the following persons to pay compensation. (1) OIC Wattala Police Station, Inspector Gunawardena Rs. 70,000, (2) Sub-Inspector Suresh Gunesena (Wattala Crime Branch) Rs. 40,000 Police Constable, Nalin Jayasinghe Rs 20,000, Police Constable Perera Rs. 20,000 and the State to pay Rs. 650,000 plus the hospital bill of Rs. 854,871.70 cents. Subsequently the matter was referred to the Attorney General's Department who then ordered the CID to investigate the case. On the findings of the CID, the Attorney General indicted Sub Inspector Suresh, a civilian and three other policemen before the Negombo High Courts under the Torture Act. A person found guilty is sentenced to seven year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 10,000. The gruesome killing of Gerard Mervyn Perera raised a hornet's nest in media circles. It was the media that spotlighted the killing of a man who was awarded compensation by the Supreme Court. The news of the killing was splashed in all news papers and TV news. Naturally everyone's suspicion fell on the Inspectors and other policemen, who were the respondents of Meryn Perera's fundamental rights application. Meanwhile the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandra Fernando ordered the CID to investigate the killing. The Sub -Inspector and other policemen involved in the fundamental rights application were transferred to Biyagama police station. Under the directions of DIG (CID) Lionel Gunatilleka, Director (CID) SSP, Sisira Mendis and SSP, H. Samaratunga, a CID plain clothes team were detailed to arrest the killer who was still at large. Thus the hunt for the killer began with CID plain clothesmen fanning across the country following every bit of lead they had gathered. Meanwhile the killer, a native of Biyagama knowing well that the police were after him, moved his family to Uhana and sought refuge in a Teak plantation at Sirambaran in Chillaw area. He was a jobless man who eked out a living by doing odd jobs and peddling drugs. For almost two months, the CID sleuths were working around the clock without success. Finally the breakthrough came in when they were examining the -Inspector's white Toyota car. A scarp of paper found on the floor of his car led to a vital clue that unravelled the mystery. The piece of paper was a cellular phone card and the detectives were soon able to learn about the telephone calls Inspector made to the assassin. After painstaking work the sleuths visited the Teak plantation in Chillaw and arrested the assassin. The assassin confessed to police that he was ordered by the Inspector to shoot Gerard Mervyn Perera and he got away in his car. He was obliged to carry out the mission as the Inspector had helped him in many ways. He also told police that the Inspector had taught him to use a 9.mm. pistol. According to CID officers the Inspector had feared being convicted and being sentenced to jail for torturing Perera and that perhaps would have led to his killing. Meanwhile an identification parade had been fixed at the Wattala Magistrate Court next week. |
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