Murder in 'Paradise'

The Paradise restaurant located by the side of Galle road at Wadduwa, Moligoda is a popular restaurant among residents in the area. It is a bustling restaurant with customers converging at different times to have a cup of tea or a snack.

The restaurant is particularly popular among long distance bus passengers en-route to the deep south. They break journey at this spot to sip tea and chat or else to gobble down a meal as fast as possible.

To keep the overheads down at Paradise restaurant the proprietor of the restaurant employed his two brothers-in-law, viz Athidiya Liyanage Parakrama Hemachandra Perera and Athidiya Liyanage Dhammika Hemachandra Perera.

They were two brothers; hard working and able bodied young men in their twenties who sweated and toiled around the clock to keep the restaurant going. But the men had dual personalities which their brother in law was not aware of.

The two men had had links to a ruthless underworld gang that terrorised Wadduwa and Panadura areas a few months ago. They were responsible for several murders in the area. The leader of the gang had gone into hiding and the police are still looking for him.

Be that as it may, violence spilled all over Wadduwa about two years ago owing to the rivalry between two gangs. There were much bloodletting when the two gangs declared war on each other and went on a killing spree. Around 20 members from both gangs had perished when they had aimed their guns at each other in the past.

However the worst nightmare was for the police who had to investigate these cases without witnesses. No one dared to come forward to testify against the underworld members through fear for their lives.

Even those who witnessed broad daylight killing had shunned away from the police. This was because the police weren't in a position to afford personnel protection to the witnesses. In the past several such persons who testified against underworld gangs had been killed.

Therefore the underworld gangs were able to terrorise and intimidate witnesses to not go against them or to reveal anything to the police about a crime. Due to this, a sense of lawlessness prevailed in the area and the police were helpless.

The atmosphere at the Paradise restaurant was hectic last Monday with several customers calling over for a meal of Kothu, string hoppers or egg hoppers. Parakrama the younger brother had mastered the art of making mouth watering Kothu rotti.

Customers usually dropped in there in the night to savour the delights of Kothu rotti. The time was around 7.45 p.m. when darkness fell outside the hotel. Parakrama as usual was busy making Kothu rotti for the customers.

His Kothu Rotti stall was directly facing the Galle road which was partitioned by a huge glass to prevent dust and grime seeping into the food. He was quite visible to anyone from outside the hotel. Just then two men on a motor cycle arrived at the Paradise restaurant.

They parked their bike just opposite the Kothu-stall and the man on the pillion after alighting aimed his T-56 weapon at Parakarama. However Parakrama had not noticed anybody close by and was deeply engrossed in his job.

In the meantime the assassin fired two shots with deadly precision that struck Parakrama on his chest and the head portion. Instantaneously Parakrama fell on his back to the floor. On hearing the gunshots his brother Dammika who was in the restaurant came running towards the Kothu-stall and saw Parakrama sprawled on the ground.

He was groaning in pain. What happened next was spine chilling. Just as Dammika bent forward to lift his brother the assassin with the T-56 weapon entered the Kothu stall and shot Dammika at point blank range.

Dammike slumped on the floor after being hit by two bullets on his chest and was bleeding profusely. Just then the assassin spotted another employee, Thushara Milroy Fernando trying to make a quick exit by darting across the room. Before he could do so the assassin fired two shots at him before escaping.

Soon after the shooting, a caller rang up the Wadduwa police station and OIC Wadduwa Police Station, Chief Inspector Lalith Abeysekera and OIC Crimes Inspector C. Rajapakse arrived at the scene with a police party. They found three men lying in a pool of blood on the ground. Parakrama, the Kotha rotti maker was dead by this time but Dammika and Milroy Fernando were alive. Meanwhile Dammika died while being despatched to the Panadura hospital.

Police suspect that the motive for killing the two brothers was due to the rivalry among two underworld gangs in the area. It was subsequently revealed that the deceased brothers had procured a firearm and had orchestrated the murder of a small time businessman at Morathhuduwa in the Wadduwa area about ten months ago.

OIC Wadduwa Police Chief Inspector Lalith Abeysekera is conducting further inquiries under the directions of Senior Superintendent, of Police Panadura, Upendra Dharmasena.

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