Love affair ends in policewoman's death

It all happened a few years ago while both of them were serving as police constables in a remote police station at Koslanda nearly 20 kilometres from the Bandarawela town. He was a handsome young police constable from Walapone and his girlfriend came from Medagama in the Bibile area. She was a young and vivacious woman in her mid-twenties. She was athletically built, smart and carried herself well.

Naturally she captivated the young constable's heart. Although they served for a short period at the Koslanda police station they fell in love. For more than a year their love blossomed.

But fate intervened which resulted in the death of the woman while the man survived after swallowing a poisonous substance. It was a tragic episode. A love affair gone sour that ended in death.

The woman police constable died on admission to the Colombo National Hospital while the man survived miraculously after being admitted to the same hospital. The policewoman was identified as Herath Mudiyanselage Nadishani Madubashani Samarasinghe (26) of Medagama, Bibile.

Transferred

The trouble began when the policeman and the police woman were transferred to two police stations last year. They both had served for nearly one year at the Koslanda police station. The man was transferred to Moneragala while the woman was transferred to Police Headquarters Colombo. Following the year-end transfers the woman gradually began distancing herself from her lover. She probably had reasons for doing so.

According to police, her parents who lived at Medagama, Bibile did not approve of their marriage. They believed in astrology and was against the marriage as their horoscopes did not tally with each another. The policeman was in a rage when he came to know about it. He even visited the girl's parents at Bibile during her absence and insisted that they should give their daughter in marriage to him. But he was unable to convince the parents and did not receive their blessings.

What happened on January 7 around 6.30 a.m. on the overhead bridge opposite the old police station in Fort was frightening and shocking when office workers were gradually streaming into the city. But a few people would have witnessed the gruesome stabbing that morning on the overhead bridge. The two people who witnessed the stabbing that morning were a cobbler and his wife, two homeless people who took refuge on the overhead bridge at night.

It had been their fixed abode for some time, police said. Few people use the overhead bridge even during rush hours as they find it cumbersome to climb the flight of steps.

Last week the young police constable obtained leave from the officer in charge (OIC) of the Moneragala police station where he worked, to travel to Walapone to attend to a personal matter. He told the OIC that he was going to Walapone, but instead travelled all the way to Colombo to meet his estranged girl friend, the women police constable. He had an important matter to discuss with her regarding their marriage. He was impatient and needed an answer from her right away. But he also had a preconceived deadly plan to kill her if she failed to give her consent.

The OIC of Colombo Fort Crime Division (CCD), Inspector D.N.C.K. Silogama launched a probe into the killing following the death of the woman police constable. Police suspect that the policeman would have purchased a curved knife from the Pettah bazaar after arriving in Colombo. He had an insidious plan to kill her if she did not consent to marriage. What sent the policeman into a rage was when he came to know that his girl friend Madubashani Samarasinghe was carrying on with another policeman and that her parents had consented to their marriage.

The policeman was aware that Madubashani had been selected to represent the women's police cricket team and that she was temporarily attached to the Sports Division at the Field Force headquarters at Havelock Road, Bambalapitiya. He was also aware that she was staying at the women police quarters in the Fort area and that she travelled every morning to Police Park at Bambalapitiya for cricket practices. The policeman in question had met her on previous occasions and pestered her to marry him. But Madubashani declined and her attitude towards him angered him further. Probably she did not want to go against the wishes of her parents and moreover, she had found a new man. She told him repeatedly to forget her, but he insisted that she should marry him.

Marriage

It was very likely that Madubashani agreed to meet the constable that morning to iron out a thorny issue surrounding her marriage before she went for cricket practice at police park. When the couple met, this time, the argument was intense. As the woman constable was about to leave and descend the flight of steps, he held her back by her hair.

The police constable then pulled out the curved knife from a bag he was carrying and attacked her mercilessly. He then cut her throat with the knife and the woman fell bleeding.

He then pulled out a bottle containing poison and made the fallen woman swallow it. Thereafter, he hurriedly gulped down the poison and fell unconscious.Prior to swallowing the poison, the policeman threatened the cobbler who witnessed the incident that he would blow him out with a hand grenade. A few minutes later a police party from the Fort police station that arrived at the scene sent the injured woman and the unconscious policeman to the Colombo National Hospital. However, the policeman survived the attempted suicide bid while the woman succumbed to her injuries. He was arrested by the Fort police station and is in remand custody pending further investigation.