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Sunday, 25 August 2013

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Did brother kill sister to settle debts?

Lokumenike was the youngest in her family. She was a calm and quiet person who kept to herself. She had a sister and two brothers. Her parents were poor and struggled to ensure their children's well-being. They lived in Pulasthipura, a backward area in the Polonnaruwa district.

However, Lokumenike's parents kept the home fires burning and ensured the children were kept under one roof. They also ensured the four of them had a reasonably good education.

Later on Lokumenike's sister and brothers married and resided in the same village. One of her brothers, was 45-year-old Tikiribanda. He married and had two children. He was attached to his younger sister so much that he always wanted to be close to her, thus he settled down at a nearby house and had always said that he would take care of his younger siblings.

Future

Later Lokumenike married Gunaratne Banda who was a farmer. After their marriage they became parents to a lovely son. Banda was a hard working man. He was proud of his beautiful wife and son. He even avoided keeping company with friends as he thought this will limit his time with the family.

He valued family life and did everything within his capacity to live in harmony with his wife and son. Banda never missed having meals with them on almost everyday.

Unfortunately, Banda's life with his family was short-lived because he met with an untimely death. He left his young wife and new born child. After her husband's death, Lokumenike lost the zest for life and became depressed. She was overcome with grief and lived in despair. She had nightmares and even decided to end her life. She had attempted to hang herself.

The only thing that kept her going was her son Sasindu. She strived hard to ensure a bright future for him. When her husband was alive he dreamed of giving his son the best. It was 15 years ago that her husband had passed away and she always remembered every single word he said like as if it was yesterday. Lokumenike somehow found employment in a garment factory through a relative from Polonnaruwa. Although she worked hard and long hours, her salary was poor. It was not enough to manage the household and provide for the education of her son. So she searched for a better job and later joined a project in the cultural triangle in Polonnaruwa as a security officer.

One day Lokumenike visited his elder sister's house in the afternoon while returning from work. She always brought toys for her sister's granddaughter, whenever she visited them. She loved the little girl very much.

On that day, Sumanawathi, Lokumenike's sister had prepared lunch for her. However, as Lokumenike had some clothes to wash she said she would go home which was nearby, do the washing and return to have lunch.

However, Lokumenike did not turn up for a long time and her sister got worried. So she went to Lokumenike's house with the young child. When they reached the house they saw the doors closed. However, the sister had an extra key and using that key she entered the house. But she found the house empty and there was no one in the house.

So, they returned home. As soon as she set foot inside her house, Sumanawathi had an eerie feeling and a strange sense of foreboding overcoming her.

She could not sense what it was. It did not take her long to realise what it was . She found Lokumenike lying in a pool of blood. She just screamed after seeing the pool of blood.

The neighbours came running towards the house and saw what had happened. They immediately rushed Lokumenike to the Polonnaruwa hospital but she had already succumbed to injuries.

Wailing

While Lokumenike was being taken to hospital, Tikiribanda, their brother met them on the way and expressed dismay and sadness at what had happened to his sister and even began wailing uncontrollably. The neighbours then began comforting Tikiribanda and consoling him. Tikiribanda was a spendthrift and borrowed from every Dick, Tom and Harry to continue his extravagant lifestyle. He spent his time and money gambling and on nefarious activities.

Relatives and her son wanted Lokumenike's funeral to be held in Tikiribanda's house because it was spacious and finally the funeral was held at Tikiribanda's residence. The police were wary of the incident and launched an investigation to find out the perpetrators of the crime.

The OIC of Pulasthipura police, IP Vipula Bandara was closely monitoring the situation as he got information that Tikiribanda may have been involved in the killing. Neighbours and even his wife were suspicious of Tikiribanda. Tikiribanda's wife felt that her husband seemed uncharacteristically nervous on the days following the death of his sister.

As clues began to emerge that it was Tikiribanda who was responsible for the dastardly act, he fled the village and went into hiding.

Acting on a tip-off the police arrested him at a restaurant in Polonnaruwa while he was having liquor. Later the Police found two letters and a receipt issued by a pawning centre in Polonnaruwa.

The letter was written by Tikiribanda to the police and to his wife explaining the circumstances that led him to commit the murder of his sister. In the letter he had also stated that he wanted to commit suicide as he could nor bear what he had done.

At the time the police arrested him, he had mixed some poison with the liquor. After his arrest he fell ill and police officers had to rush him to the Polonnaruwa hospital. Police later found that he had pawned a gold necklace which belonged to Lokumenike to a pawning centre in Polonnaruwa.

He had taken loans from villagers and had returned them within a day with the money he got after pawning Lokumenike's chain. JMO, Polonnaruwa hospital held the post mortem and revealed that she was strangled to death.

OIC IP, Vipula Bandara, OIC Crime, SI Lokubanda and a police team from Pulasthipura police are conducting investigations on the instructions of ASP, Oshan Hewavitharana and senior DIG Sarath Kumara of the Polonnaruwa division.

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