Massacre at Golukotuwatte

Pinwatte village situated between Panadura and Wadduwa has acquired a notoriety for violent crimes going back to several years. In the past, several Police officers who confronted dangerous criminals at Pinwatte had been shot and knifed. The village has been in the grips of violent crimes till recent times.

Last week's horrible massacre at Golukotuwatte in the Nalluruwa area where five youths were shot and knifed by a rival gang who had followed them while they were returning home after attending a funeral at a friends house, shocked the nation.

It was a brutal massacre of five youngmen. Week before last the Sunday Crime column highlighted the slaying of an innocent 11 year-old boy at Anguruwatota and the raping and killing of a 20 year-old schoolgirl in Lunugala by sick men to achieve their own ends.

These horrendous crimes reflect the ills of our society. It seems that the fabric of our society has been torn because of heinous crimes committed by criminals. The underworld criminals today are armed with sophisticated weapons like 9 mm micro pistols and T-56 guns.

They also control the drug trade in their respective areas. Criminals are not frightened any more to take away the lives of innocent persons. They know well the leniency of our legal system and the lacuna that exist in our law. Would they dare to commit such crimes in countries where barbarous modes of punishment are meted out to those found guilty?

The massacre of the five youths including two brothers of the same family at Dibbedda road, Nalluruwa was a gruesome cold blooded killing. The victims were shot with a 9.mm. pistol and then hacked to death with knives and swords by a five member rival gang.

The incident happened past midnight on Sunday. It took place just a few yards away from a funeral house at Golukotuwatte. The five youth were returning home on two motor cycles and on a push cycle when the five member gang travelling in a van attacked them.

The five youths succumbed to their injuries on the spot. People in the neighbourhood who rushed to the spot after the gang had fled had identified the victims. The deceased youth were M.R.D Thabrew (21) and M.R. S. Thabrew (20), Dinesh Sameera (19) R.I. Soysa and S. Chaturanga.

Police said the youngmen too had been involved in criminal activities in the area. The two motor cycles and a pedal cycle were found lying on the ground besides the bodies. The television images showed the sadness in the eyes of people who gathered near the corpses. Police also found some spent bullets of the pistol.

Police say the motive for the killing was due to a personal rivalry between two gangs in Pinwatte and Morawinna area. The feud had started at a musical show at Morawinna in 2004 which resulted in the slaying of a gang member. Since then more then 20 persons from both gangs had perished over reprisal attacks.

According to police the slain five men too had terrorised the residents of the area for quite sometime. The police came to know of the killing on Monday morning when someone had informed them on the 119 emergency line.

However no eye witness had made any statement to the police so far. Some relatives of the deceased had told police the assassins had followed the five men in a vehicle and opened fire on them.

Later under the supervision of SSP Panaduara, Sumith Edirisinghe a special team was detailed to track down the assassins who fled the area. The team was led by OIC Wadduwa Police station, Inspector Nihal Karunaratne. By this time the police team was aware of the main suspect responsible for the massacre.

The suspect was identified as L.G. Menaka Silva (26) of Morawinna who was a carpenter by profession. The man fled the area and took refuge in a house at Ingiriya. On Tuesday around 2.30 a.m. the Police party arrived at Ingiriya and tapped at the door where the suspect was hiding. The suspect was taken aback when he confronted armed policemen standing at his door step.

After being questioned the suspect agreed to show them the place where he hid the knife used in the killing. Later the suspect led the police party to a shrub jungle at Sinnawatte in the Panadura area. The location was near a fibre mill factory.

The suspect on the pretext of recovering the hidden knife buried near a tree retrieved a hand grenade from the shrub jungle and attempted to hurl it at the police party. At this stage police in self dense had fired at the suspect injuring him critically. Thereafter the suspect was brought to the Panadura hospital around 5.30 a.m where he passed away.

Meanwhile the police are hot on the trail of two other suspects involved in the massacre.

OIC Wadduwa Police Station, Inspector Nihal karunaratne said they were combing the area to arrest two more suspects who were evading the police.

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