Triple murder: Hate or revenge killing?

Hardly a week goes by without news of some gruesome killing being reported from many parts of the country that puts fear in the minds of law abiding citizens of the country. Simultaneously it also adds tremendous pressure on the police to track down perpetrators of such heinous crime. It is because these individuals have no previous criminal records.

However judging from the pattern of killings during the past few months, one can assume the killings bear the same hallmark or semblance. These killings fall into the category of hate crimes or revenge killings.

Several women have been strangled to death in the past few months by persons who do not have any criminal records. There is a considerable reduction of gang related killings unlike in the past where people were shot dead in broad daylight witnessed by the public.

Last week the slaying of a thirty five year old mother and her eight year old son sent shock waves in the neighbourhood of Peragahamulla - Boraluwilla in the Biyagama area. The decomposed bodies of the woman and her son were found lying on a bed in their bedroom.

When a police party from Biyagama with the Grama Niladhari of the area visited the home on 18th of April they discovered the decomposed bodies. They had to force open the front door to gain entry to the home. Police identified the deceased as P.L. Hemaseeli, the mother and her son Ravindu Umesh. They also found several dried blood patches on the bed sheet.

The deceased woman’s husband was employed as an administrative officer at a garment factory in the Free Trade zone in the Biyagama area.

Soon it became apparent to police the husband had disappeared following the brutal killing of his wife and child.

According to police it wasn’t clear as to how the woman and her son have been done to death due to the decomposed state of bodies. While the room was searched, police found a noose with a rope in the bed room as if someone had attempted to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, a police party from the Biyagama police Crime Division had been deployed to arrest the suspect who had gone missing. Police are still baffled over the killings of the woman and her son in the absence of any motive.

The valuable items in the home have not been removed by anyone. Police suspect the killing would have taken place on the 16th April night.

The people in the neighbourhood had spoken to the family on 16th April long before they went to sleep that night. However the neighbours began to suspect that something may have gone wrong with the family when they saw the house closed for two days. When neighbours informed the Grama Niladhari about it, he lodged a complaint at the Biyagama police station.

The neighbours were shocked when they learnt about the death of the mother and her son two days later. The husband may have fled the home or even been abducted by someone after the heinous crime was committed on 16th April night, police said.

The neighbours had told the Biyagama police that the family had lived a harmonious and happy life sans any quarrels. “It was hard to believe the husband had committed the heinous crime as they were a loving family,” a neighbour told the OIC Biyagama police station Chief Inspector Shantha Tillekeratne.

Meanwhile the Judicial Medical officer (JMO) of the Ragama Teaching hospital who held the autopsy examination have given an open verdict due to decomposition of the bodies.

“As the nature of the injuries could not be determined we do not know how the mother and the child were killed. We have not found a weapon used in the killing “ police said. The JMO of the Ragama hospital have ordered the body parts to be forwarded to the Government Analyst for a report.

Later, on a tip-off the Wattala police have fished out a highly decomposed body from the Hamilton Canal five days after the killing of the woman and her son was reported. “Someone had cut off both the hands of the man before dumping the body in the Hamilton canal.” police said.

A team of police officers investigating the double homicide visited the Hamilton Canal accompanied by relatives of the deceased. The relatives have told police the corpse somewhat resembles the deceased Hemaseeli’s husband although they cannot be certain.

Although police initially suspected her husband to be the killer, things have taken a different turn with the discovery of the body with severed hands. But then who could have murdered the entire family that night?

The Biyagama police will have to further investigate whether it was a contract killing and if so the motive behind the killing. OIC Biyagama Police, Chief Inspector Shantha Tilekeratne and OIC Crimes Inspector Keerthisinghe and a team of police officers are investigating the triple homicide.