Murder in cold blood

Sunday Crime by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

A mother of four children who got burnt when petrol was poured on her body and her clothes set on fire by her enraged husband after quarrelling with her last August, was later admitted to the Kurunegala hospital where she succumbed to her injuries on 2 September, Polpithigama police said.

According to Polpithigama police the suspect was one Rangith Jothiratne, an ex-police constable who was evading arrest after committing the heinous crime. His body was later found hanging from a rope tied to a tree in a cadju-plantation at Pathirendawa in Madampe area on 11 September.

It was revealed that the suspect had left the police department sometime ago and had eked out a living by doing a small business. His wife too had been a police constable sometime back. But both had left the police department a few years back to venture into business.

Stormy affair

Police sources said that Jothiratne had fallen in love with his wife while serving in the police department and married her a few years ago. But their marriage was a stormy affair from the very inception as he was a habitual drunkard.

Although they were blessed with four children it was a cat and dog's life for both of them. They quarrelled frequently over money matters. Jotiratne's wife lived with her four children at her home at Ma-eliya in Polpithigama area. She made a living by running a poultry farm at home.

Due to the estrangement with his wife, Jothiratne lived separately at his village in Kobbeignne. He often used to borrow money from his wife and quarrelled with her after getting intoxicated from liquor.

Life became unbearable for Jothiratne's wife due to her husband's drunkenness. She had admonished her husband several times not to step into her house owing to his quarrelsome behaviour.

Hatred

The tragedy occurred on 29th August when Jothiratne, accompanied by two of his buddies, Ajith Karunanayake and Karunaratne had travelled in a tri shaw to Ma-eliya where his wife lived. They parked the tri-shaw a little distance away from his wife's home and consumed a bottle of arrack which they had brought along with them.

Jothiratne was drunk when he decided to visit his wife's home. He also took with him a bottle filled with petrol. After meeting his wife he had requested her for a glass of water. She boiled with rage on seeing him. She despised him so much and vowed never to see him again at her home.

Premeditated murder

Nevertheless she brought a glass of water and offered it to her husband. But to spite him she turned her back on him with resentment. Jothiratne at this stage poured the petrol on her clothes and set it on fire with the help of a match stick.

Soon after committing the crime Jothiratne and his two buddies escaped in the Tri Shaw. Meanwhile within seconds the woman's body was engulfed in a ball of fire and she screamed and yelled out for help. On hearing her scream and the screams of her children, her neighbours rushed in to the house and found her fallen on the floor, unconscious.

Although her clothes were still burning they managed to douse the fire and rush her to the Kurunegala hospital. The doctors there put up a valiant struggle to save her life but she died after four days at the intensive care unit. After her case was reported, the Polpithigama police was galvanised into action.

After all it happened in their territory and it was a premeditated murder. The suspect had carried petrol with him with the intention of causing her death. A man hunt was launched by the Polpithigama police. They flashed messages country wide about the fugitive on the run but it was of no avail. The suspect after weeks of hiding in different parts of the country visited his uncle's home at Madampe at last.

His uncle and his family by now were aware that he had committed a murder. They persuaded Jothiratne to surrender himself to the Madampe police. On the following day Jothiratne disappeared from home without informing any one in the household. Nobody in the house knew exactly where he went.

His uncle relentlessly searched for him in the surrounding woods and found Jothiratne's body dangling from a rope tied to a tree in a Cadju plantation. He had hung himself. Obviously his guilt had become inextricably linked to the murder that he committed. Meanwhile they came across his passport at his uncle's home.

He had scribbled a suicide note in the blank pages of his passport giving reasons for taking his own life. He even had pleaded with his uncle to take care of his four children after his death. The postmortem examination was waived off due to the suicide note left by him and other evidence given by other witnesses. The body of Jothiratne was later handed over to his relatives for burial.