Tragedy in Ganemulla

Television images have a haunting memory for many of us who watched TV last week when four dead bodies were being pulled out from a water hole in Bollena, Ganemulla last Monday.

The dead bodies were of those of a widowed woman named Charlotte (45) along with her two sons Chaturanga (13) and Sanjeewa (10) and her granddaughter Achini (3) who were brutally stabbed and strangled to death and their bodies dumped in a water hole in a near by paddyfield. The assassin thereafter had killed the pet dog in the house and thrown it into a shrub nearby.

After the gruesome murder their bodies were discovered almost ten days, ago when a man tipped off the Ganemulla police, that he saw a leg of a person protruding from a water hole while passing a paddy-field last Sunday. Acting on the tip off, a police team from Ganemulla visited the paddy-field and discovered highly decomposed bodies of four persons dumped in a water hole in a 25 acre paddy-field.

The killer had cunningly covered the bodies with coconut leaves to camouflage them. Nobody had any clue as to who the murderer was. It was less clear why they were murdered in the first place and who was responsible for it. The dark truth remained buried under layers of silence for nearly ten days.

In fact there wasn't any evidence forthcoming from any quarter and police were frantically searching for every clue needed to unravel the mystery.

People in the remote village of Hanbana Nivundana were shocked and bewildered to hear the cold blooded murder of a mother, her two sons and her granddaughter. But deep down in their hearts the villagers suspected a family member.

The woman victim was a widower whose husband, Gamini died somewhere in 2002, owing to consumption of excessive liquor. He was a labourer who fathered two sons. His brother Susil was no better.

He had a criminal track record and a convict who spent several years at the Bogambara Prison who was subsequently released in 2002. Susil was a drug addict who needed cash to keep his drug habits alive.

After the death of his brother Gamini, he often visited the house of Charlotte and befriended her. The hapless woman without a job fell for Susil's overtures and became his mistress finally. Susil being a drug addict had a vile temper.

He was a ruthless and paranoid man who often beat her and her children for the slightest provocation. He often harassed Charlotte and her two sons. So much so that Susil's mother lodged a complaint at the Ganemulla police station last April.

The complaint was about death threats levelled at her and her husband by Susil. Since of late his behaviour had undergone a radical change for the worse. His parents were now scared of Susil that he might cause them harm.

He often quarrelled with Charlotte and her sons and often beat them unmercifully whenever he could. Charlotte and Susil lived a cat and dog's life. However things went from bad to worse when Susil came home one day in a rage. He removed the roofing sheets from their house and sold them for a song. Thereafter he busted up the money for purchasing drugs to satisfy his drug habit. The family thereafter was in dire straights without a roof above their heads.

They underwent untold suffering after that.

Then tragedy befell a fortnight ago when an assassin barged in to the house and stabbed Charlotte several times on her chest and thereafter set upon her two sons Chaturanga, Sanjeewa, and her granddaughter Achini and stabbed and strangled them to death. He dumped their bodies in a near by well and covered them with coconut leaves.

In fact some villagers at Bollena had seen the killer visiting the water hole in the night but had not realised there were dead bodies in the water hole. Strange enough Susil disappeared from the home after the murder and nobody knew his whereabouts.

Even his parents did not know where Susil had disappeared with his family. Susil's father searched for them high and low in the village but his efforts were fruitless. After a few days a stench had emanated from the water hole but villagers had not taken any notice thinking that a dead dog was rotting inside the water hole.

But Susil's father had noticed a leg of a person jutting from the water hole while crossing the paddy-field last week. He informed Ganemulla police about the discovery. A police team visited the water hole and pulled out the bodies of Charlotte, Chaturanga, Sanjeewa, and Achini.

Meanwhile two police teams from Ganemulla have been detailed to track down the killer whom they did not want wish to reveal. Another police team from Gampaha was to join the search last week.

The postmortem examinations were conducted at the Gampaha Hospital where it was recorded that deaths were due to stabbing and strangulation. There were no one to take charge of the bodies after the postmortem examination. The mother, her two sons and the infant were buried at state expense at Ganemulla cemetery.

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