Suspect held in quadruple murder case

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Following a week long man hunt, a team of police officers from the Pettah and Fort police stations arrested the most wanted man in connection with the quadruple murder of a family at Eppawala, Sandaresgama on Friday. The dramatic arrest was made by policemen from the Fort and Pettah police stations who rushed to the overhead bridge opposite the Fort Railway Station on Friday around 10 pm following a tip off by ASP, Jayaratne of the Colombo Central. Police cordoned off the area and began questioning people who gathered near the Fort Railway station. Police tracked down the 21-year-old suspect who had been absconding for nearly a week.

According to police sources, the suspect had lived in the house of K.A Dayaratne (48), his wife Malani Jayasinghe (42), daughter Iyani Udeshika, and son Kishan Dilhara. The entire family was hacked to death by the suspect with an axe when he went into a sudden rage after watching the World Cup football match.

After fetching an axe from the kitchen, the suspect had hacked Dayaratne, who was watching TV in the drawing room. Thereafter, he rushed to the room where Malani Jayasinghe was sleeping and hacked her with the same axe. On hearing cries her daughter and son who attempted to run away were also hacked to death by the suspect. After hacking the entire family to death the suspect had closed the door of the house and escaped.

According to the police, the suspect was a relative of Dayaratne. He lived with the Dayaratne family, as an orphan following his parents” separation.

Although he scored high marks at the G.C.E. O/L examination he failed the GCE Advanced Level examination and was in a depressed state of mind.