Husband held over gruesome triple killing

The gruesome killing of a mother and two of her young children has sent shockwaves among law-abiding citizens. The charred bodies of the young mother along with her three-year-old son and a month-old infant who lived in an upstair house at Kaldemulla in the Mount Lavinia area was found in their room when police visited the scene. Her husband, his mother and the domestic aid also lived in the same spacious house.

The charred bodies were found lying on the upstairs bedroom when the husband woke up the following morning around 6.30 on hearing the screams of his mother. She screamed that the house was on fire. The husband rushed upstairs and attempted to douse the fire by pouring water. He saw the disfigured and partly burnt bodies of his wife and his three-year-old son and the infant lying on two beds.

When the incident was reported to the Mount Lavinia police station, a team of police officers visited the scene. “At a glance we thought that the deaths were caused by fire.

The autopsy performed by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dammika Ariyaratne revealed that the mother and her three-year-old son had been strangled to death while the infant had apparently died due to noxious fumes and burn injuries. The OIC Crimes Sub Inspector Eric and Sub Inspector Kumar Nalawansa began grilling the husband, his mother and the domestic aid.

The husband held a responsible position as a company manager in the Ratmalana area. The investigation revealed that they had been constant quarrels between the married couple.

They had often traded insults at each other which later developed into a full blown domestic quarrel. The husband accused her of having an illicit love affair with a man but she denied it vehemently. She too levelled allegations that he had an extra-marital affair with a woman. Police have identified the deceased as Sandamali Fernando,(31) a teacher at Princess of Wales College, Moratuwa. Her three-year-old son was identified as Wijemuni Kushan Sandaruwan de Silva and the one-month-old child as Ishan Banuka de Silva. When police grilled the husband at length he broke down and finally confessed to the killing of his wife and the three-year-old son. He had strangled them with his bare hands. The gruesome killings had taken place around 12.30 am on Monday.

Although the couple had married a few years ago, they lived in separate rooms due to estrangement. On the day of the incident the husband apparently sneaked into her room in the middle of the night while she was fast asleep. When he began to strangle her she had woken up from her sleep and screamed for help. The three-year-old child on hearing her mother's cries had woken up and cried loudly. “The child probably was not sure what was happening to his mother,” said the police. The suspect had then strangled his son. “It was a well-planned and premeditated murder.

The suspect had a motive for killing his wife and children so that he could continue his illicit affair with his paramour. Having killed his wife and the child he had placed their bodies on their beds and covered them with mosquito nets while the infant lay beside her mothers body.

He was still alive when he sprayed their bodies with some cologne and set it ablaze. Thereafter, the suspect lit a candle in the room to show that it was an accidental fire. The suspect then went back to his room and pretended that he was fast asleep and did not know anything about it until he heard his mother's screams on the following day,” police said.

Surprisingly, people in the neighbourhood had not heard Sandamali Fernando screaming when she was attacked by her husband.

“It may have been so because she slept in an air-conditioned room with her children,” police said. The suspect was taken into custody and will be produced before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate. Further investigations on the triple murder is directed by SSP Mount Lavinia Ravindra Karawita.