Rat bait takes lives of two brothers

by Ananda Agalakada and P.Maddumage Mawerela Cor.

Roshan Priyantha

Nalika Wasanthi

It was just like any other day for Roshan Priyantha, 33, and Nalika Wasanthi, 30 who resided at Rankakulawa, Ransagoda, Mulatiyana, excepting for the fact that it was July the seventh - a day villagers signified with a sense of foreboding as many times it had brought ill luck to many villagers.

Roshan had left for the village fair to make his weekly purchases. He did this weekly trek because the goods at the pola were quite cheap and he could save some money. They were poor and he was doing everything within his means to provide for his family and also save something to educate his children.

Of late Roshan found that rats had invaded his house. There were many rats in the compound and even inside the house. He was at sixes and sevens not knowing what to do with the rats which could be seen at every corner. His greatest fear was that the children would be bitten by the rodents. He then met some villagers who advised him to buy a new type of rat poison which they said was effective. This poison resembled biscuits. He had immediately gone to the town and purchased the biscuits and had put them in the corners of the house. The eldest of the three 12-year-old Maduka Lakmali lived with her grandmother while Osanda Niwanka, who was six years and Akila Anuhas who was three-years-old lived with their parents in Mulatiyana.

On that fateful day, the two little boys, Osanda and Akhila were alone at home, while their mother Wasanthi had gone to the nearby well to wash some clothes.

The two boys were curious when they found the biscuits scattered in the corners of the house. They thought they will have a taste of it and the older of the two had bitten into the biscuit-looking poison and then given a piece to the younger brother as well. The two children may have collapsed with the first bite as the biscuits were laced with poison. Minutes later Wasanthi came back home and to her consternation she found her two sons frothing and unconscious. She screamed in despair and the neighbours came running into the house and rushed the two children to the nearest hospital which was the Andapana hospital. They were pronounced dead on admission. Meanwhile, the father Roshan was still at the pola when he received a call from his brother asking him to come home immediately. In a few moments he got another call asking him to come to the hospital.

Roshan rushed to hospital in a trishaw all the while fearing that something untoward had happened. Little did he think that his two sons would have eaten the rat bait and died. When he entered the hospital he saw his two sons lying in bed motionless. Roshan could not control himself.

He began wailing and tears were gushing down his cheeks. He began sobbing uncontrollably clutching the cold bodies of his two children. Villagers in Kamburupitiya could not believe their ears when they heard the news of the death of two children. The whole village was in grief over the death of the two boys.