Assassins still on the run

Police are still hunting the gunmen who murdered three at Rawatawatte on May 28,2006

Sunday Crime by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

It was in the wee hours of the morning on May 28th when Priyadharshini woke up from her sleep suddenly, when she heard someone knocking incessantly at their gate and calling for her husband. Her husband Priyal and his friend Roshan were fast asleep in their room. She occupied the adjoining room. It was around 4.30 or 5 a. m. and darkness still hung outside the house.

Therefore she could not peep through the window to identify who they were. She was also curious to know who was tapping at their gate since they had just moved in only three days ago. The couple from Rathgama had rented out a house at Rawattawatte. A sudden thought flashed across her mind. Who could they be, after all? Due to poor visibility she then got out of the house and walked up to the gate to identify the strangers

Six men

When she strolled towards the gate she found around six men waiting outside the gate. She may have identified some of them as villagers from the South who were after her husband. But it was too late for her to retrieve into the house. She walked up to them and inquired what it was all about. The men then inquired whether Priyal was at home.

Before she could answer three men leapt forward and seized her. They dragged her near the mango tree in the compound and held her against it, tightly. One of the them pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her head.

He threatened to shoot her and told her to shut up. While all these happened two other men stormed into the house brandishing pistols. They sauntered unannounced into the bed room and found Priyal and Roshan, their two enemies. They had been looking for them for so long. Both were fast asleep on their beds in the same room.

Without waking them up, the two assassins took aim at their heads and then emptied 14 rounds of 9 mm. ammunition, silencing them forever. The two men died in their sleep.

After liquidating Priyal and his friend Roshan, the two gunmen emerged out of the house, fifteen minutes later. The men came near the mango tree where Priyal's wife Priyadharshini was held and, one of them pulled out a pistol and fired four shots on her head killing her instantly. She just slumped into the ground after receiving four shots on her head. The assassins then made a bold escape in a get-away vehicle after accomplishing their mission.

Rawatawatte

Rawatawatte is a densely populated area in the suburbs of Colombo with houses located close by. There were several houses in the neighbourhood where Priyalal had lived.

But their neighbours hardly knew them as they had just moved in a few days back. The couple were natives from Rathgama and the man who stayed with them was also from the Galle area.

A neighbour who heard the gun shots that morning immediately dialled the police emergency number 119. A police party led by Sub -Inspector Jayasiri and Police Constable 36680 Dharmasiri from Moratuwa police rushed to Rawatawatte after being alerted by the Police Headquarters emergency unit.

No sooner had they arrived at the Rawatawatte address Sub-Inspector Jayasiri was shocked to find the body of a woman with blood soaked clothes lying on the ground near the gate. He found four bullet marks on her head. Four gunshots had also pierced her head and was embedded in a mango tree close by. He found 9.mm, spent bullet casings, on the ground.

Intuition

However his intuition told him that something much worse had happened inside the house. They found the bodies of two men lying on two beds in a bedroom. Both had been shot several times on the heads. Fourteen 9 mm bullet casings were found inside the room.

According to OIC Crimes Moratuwa Police, Sub-Inspector S. S. Hettiarachchi the dead had been identified as Priyal(31) Priyadharshani (25) and Roshan from Meetiyagoda area.

Police suspect that Priyal had killed the father and a son of an underworld man named Vidura in the Ratgama area about five years ago. After being in remand custody for nearly five years he was bailed out by courts just two months ago.

Thereafter he had spent some time at Ratgama and had then moved into a secret location at Rawatawatte, Moratuwa to avoid his enemies. Police say that his friend Roshan too was involved in a robbery of Rs. 13 lakhs in the Hikkaduwa area.

OIC Crimes, Sub Inspector Hettiarachchi with HQI Moratuwa Police, Chief Inspector Rohan Perera along with Police Constable 36680 Dharamaratne and Constable 30170 Seneviratne is investigating whether this was a reprisal killing.

A police team has been detailed to apprehend the killers. At the time of writing this story no one has been arrested yet.