Notebook leads to the suspect

Writer Thomas Hobb, described that life was nasty, brutish and short. That description aptly fits the manner in which W.M. Premawathie, (45) a married woman with two children met with her untimely death at Moragirikande, Yatiwawala, a desolate mountainous region in the Matale district.

It was on August 8 when around 2.30. p.m. OIC Katugastota, Chief Inspector, S.B. Diyakelinawela’s telephone rang. He was at the police station attending to some routine work.

The caller at the other end identified himself as Madushanka Gunesekera, a resident of Senerathgama, Katugastota. He informed the OIC that a body of a woman with a bashed head was found lying at a State owned land at Moragirikande, Yatiwawala. Chief Inspector Diyakelinawela along with OIC Crime Inspector Samarakoon quickly motored up to the spot to commence investigations.

They were met at the spot by the caller who identified himself as Madushanka Gunesekera. He accompanied them to the spot where the woman’s body lay in a shrub jungle. The woman appeared to be around 45 years. There were visible external injuries on her head and the face that suggested foul play. There wasn’t any doubt about it from the injuries that she had sustained.

The Chief Inspector Diyakelinawela and Inspector Samarakoon with their years of experience in crime investigation knew that tracking down the unkonwn suspect was a difficult task. They found a wrist watch on her hand which did not reveal anything. Several persons in the village who gathered around the corpse were questioned by the police. But no one could identify the woman as they had not seen her before. She was a total stranger to the villagers of Moragirikande.

However police could not continue with their investigation as it was getting darker. Darkness enveloped the area, as the sun was slipping towards the horizon. They had to abandon the search of the area for clues till morning. On the following morning the police re-visited the scene and recovered a notebook that lay a few feet away from the woman’s body. The Police Media Spokesman, SSP Ranjit Gunesekera said the breakthrough came in following the discovery of the notebook that contained valuable information including several telephone numbers.

Meanwhile the Chief Magistrate, Kandy conducted the magisterial inquiry and ordered the JMO Kandy to conduct an autopsy examination and report facts to Court. Subsequently it was revealed the death was due to multiple injuries the woman had on her head. Her body was kept at the police morgue for identification. However the month of August being the perahera season in Kandy, policemen at Katugastota were stretched to their limit. They were engaged in multiple duties such as traffic and providing security to people that thronged the city. Day’s rolled by without anyone coming forward to identify the body. Meanwhile Inspector Samarakoon, the OIC Crimes, found a copy of a visa application bearing the name and address of Patawela Maddumage Premawathie of Vithanagoda, Welipenne in the notebook.

There were several telephone numbers scribbled and the name of Harischandra Jayawradena of Thambi-Adiya, Kaikawela was recorded in the notebook. By then it was obvious to the police, the killer was a novice who failed to cover up the tracks. He had left the scene in a hurry after committing the murder. Meanwhile the police traced Jayawardena at the Kaikawela address and learnt a lot about the dead woman. Jayawardena had known her well as Premawathie from Welipenne. She was a married woman with two children who had deserted her husband and her family 15 years ago, after befriending another man from the village. She subsequently migrated to Saudi Arabia.

According to Katugastota Police, Premawathie recently returned to Sri Lanka after being away at Saudi Arabia for almost fifteen years. She was a woman blessed with a fastidious radiant smile.

While at the Passport Office in Sri Lanka she befriended another man named Jayawardena from Matale. Premawathie spent her holidays in Sri Lanka at Jayawardena’s residence at Matale.

One day while travelling in a bus at Matale she met a 23 year old young man with whom she cultivated a love affair. Premawathie had been in deep love with the young man whom she wanted to marry.

Police finally traced Ruwan Perera at his residence at Katugastota and arrested him. He worked as a cleaner of a lorry. While being questioned he confessed to the killing. He told police that he accompanied Premawathie to Moragirikande and had spent some time with her. She had then begged of him to marry her.

She told him that she would scream for every one to hear that she was being raped, if he did not promise to marry him. Visibly shaken by her utterances, the man went into a rage, and having grabbed a huge stone, smashed her head several times fatally injuring her, police said.

The threats hurled at him finally led to her death, police said. Following the arrest of the suspect , police recovered Premawathie’s gold chain, several of her photographs and other personal items from a bag inside his room.

The suspect was finally produced in Court and was remanded pending further investigations. Finally another mysterious killing has been solved due to the painstaking investigation carried out by the Katugastota police.