Kahawatte suspects rounded up

The mystery behind the killing of several women at Kotakethana, Kahawatte was finally unravelled by sleuths of the Colombo Crime Division last week, following the arrest of four suspects linked to the killing of two women at Kahawatte.

During the past few years several women who lived at Kotakethana, Kahawatte were killed by people who had vested interest to acquire their land. The Colombo Crime Division (CCD) sleuths arrested four suspects linked to the killing of Premawathie (65) and her daughter Pushpakumari (32) at Kotakethana, Kahawatte. Among the suspects was a brother of a Provincial Council Member who is already in remand custody in connection with the killing of a mother and her daughter a few months ago at Kahawatte.

The suspects involved in the recent killing were a coconut plucker and a mechanic employed in a garage at Kahawatte. The CCD sleuths discovered that the brother of the Provincial Council Member of Ratnapura who is already in remand custody had given the contract to the tinker and the coconut plucker to kill the mother and her daughter. The tinker was promised Rs 100,000 while the coconut plucker was promised Rs 10,000, police said.

During the past two years several women had been killed in the Kotakethana, Kahawatte area and some of their bodies were set ablaze by the killers to prevent identification and to eliminate vital evidence, making it difficult for the police to investigate. Kahawatte soon became a notorious killing field as several women were hacked to death while the police were completely baffled to figure out the motive behind the killing.

More than a year passed without anyone being arrested until police found evidence to nab the suspects. In April last year Kahawatte became incensed when the villagers of Niladura - Divulwela in the Kahawatte area staged a protest by burning tyres on the road as police failed to arrest the suspects.

By that time nine women who lived alone at Kotakethna, Sivulgala and Opatha had been killed. Their blood-stained bodies were found inside their homes covered with bed sheets. Then came the killing of U.D. Premawathie (65), the mother and her daughter H.G. Pusahpakumari (32) on July 19.

They lived at Kotakethana, Kahawatte. Their burnt bodies were found inside their home. The mother and the daughter had been hacked to death and then set on fire soon after midnight. That morning people in the Kotakethana village noticed smoke coming from their house and they rushed along with the Kahawatte police to douse the fire.

When they entered the house they found the partly burnt bodies of the mother and daughter lying on a bed. After killing the mother and daughter the killers had dragged their bodies to a bedroom and set them ablaze by pouring an inflammable liquid. When police entered their bedroom they found several blood stains on the bedroom wall. The mother and daughter had lived in separate rooms.

While searching the coconut estate adjoining their home an empty bottle of liquor and an empty packet of gram were found by the police team. It was obvious to the police that the killers had partaken of liquor in the coconut estate before they broke into the house where Premawathie and her daughter Pushpakumari lived. Their house was in a large coconut estate worth several millions of rupees. Premawathie had four children - two sons and two daughters.

After the death of her husband a few years ago she continued to live with her unmarried daughter Pushpakumari in the same house. Her other married son lived at Kahawatte while her daughter lived elsewhere. Pushpakumari worked in a pawn brokering shop at Kahawatte.

On the day of the incident she returned home after work as usual around 5.p.m. That night Pushpakumari had sent a SMS message to a person who worked in the pawn brokering shop that her life was in danger. As one may recall, on May 31 the police dog Sheeba helped policemen investigating the murder of two sisters Tilakawathie (51) and Dayawathie (62) at Kotakethana to track down the suspects who set fire to the bodies before escaping.

The sniffer dog had led the police team to the house of the suspect who was a suspected drug dealer in the Kotakethana area. Strangely, another mother and her daughter were killed this year. The victims were identified as Nayana Nilmini (52) and her daughter Kavindi Chaturangi (18), a schoolgirl who attended the Ferguson College at Ratnapura. The brutal killings shocked everyone in the village. However the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) that took over the investigations at Kahawatte a few months ago were soon able to unravel the mystery that surrounded the death of U.D. Premawathie and her daughter Pushpakumari.

They grilled the coconut plucker and learnt that the brother of the Provincial Council member had given them the contract of killing Premawathie and Pushpakumari. The coconut plucker while being grilled pretended that he was afflicted with a heart ailment and was hospitalised. But police found that it was a pretence and re-arrested him. Later he confessed everything to the police. The CCD sleuths were told that the brother of the Provincial Councilor in remand custody had given the contract to kill the Premawathie and Pushpakumari to mislead police so that they would be granted bail later on. Police said the coconut plucker had hacked the mother and daughter with a knife and thereafter raped them. The sordid incident took place around 12.30 am on July 19.

The suspect had worked in the estate of Premawathie as a labourer. It was just after midnight when he knocked on the door of Premawathie and informed her that his wife was not well and he needed some money. When Premawathie opened the door he, along with the mechanic and another person forcibly entered the house. When the mother fainted her daughter shouted for help and made an attempt to run away. At this stage the suspect chopped her and her mother to death. CCD sleuths later recovered the knife that was used for the killing. Both the mother and her daughter were raped by the suspect and the mechanic, and had covered their bodies with clothes before setting them on fire, police said.