Uncontrolled desires overpower youth’s mind

by Ananda Agalakada

This is the story of what happened to 70-year-old Kusumawathi from Galnewa, Anuradhapura. She was a mother of four children. She came from a poor family and had to work hard to keep the home fires burning. However, she was never discouraged in the face of hardships. Her husband Mudiyanse was a farmer and Kusumawathi helped him in his work in addition to her daily household chore which included the taking care of four boys.

Kusumawathi always dreamed of a bright future for her children. She wanted to provide them a good education but she couldn’t achieve this goal due to poverty. She worked with her husband daily in the chenas of Galnewa to look after her husband and children. Despite droughts and torrential rain which were impediments at times to their efforts to make a decent living, Kusumawathi never threw in the towel as far as keeping her family content, was concerned.

Dream

In spite of her efforts, giving a good education for her children always remained a distant dream.

The children had to fend for themselves from an early age as their parents were not always able to make ends meet on their own. The children managed to find odd jobs to keep the wolf from the door. However, a few years later Kusumawathi was content with her sons because they too began to earn money. The children tried to look after their parents because they had been taught how to be grateful to their mother and father. Kusumwathi and Mudiyanse in the latter years were looked after and provided for well by the children.

One day tragedy struck the family as Mudiyanse passed away.

Kusumawathi was overcome with grief and she became very lonely too as all her four children had got married and settled down elsewhere in the same village. The premature demise of her husband brought untold misery to Kusumawathi. She was heartbroken and inconsolable with the death of her husband.

The eldest in the family Gunaratne Banda was close to his mother. He decided to take his family and live with her in her residence. It was in this backdrop the wife of Gunaratne Banda gave birth to a son. Kusumawathi was overcome with joy. It was a son and they named him Jayantha Banda. Jayantha was never good at studies and after failing at education he became a woodcutter at a young age. He also became addicted to liquor and narcotics. One day Gunaratne and his wife left for Polonnaruwa to see their relatives after leaving Jayantha with his grandmother. Kusumawathi was alone in the residence with the absence of her son and daughter-in-law.

Dinner

On the fateful day Gunaratne's younger brother came to know that his mother was alone in the house and he wanted to send dinner. He called Jayantha and told him to pick a packet of rice from his house and give it to his grandmother. Then Jayantha came and took the packet and gave it to his grandmother. Later in the evening he left for his watering hole for a drink as usual. At nightfall, Kusumawathi began her daily worship and later, after consuming the meal Jayantha had brought she went to sleep.

Jayantha returned to the house around midnight. He was intoxicated with liquor. He had consumed so much alcohol that he was in a mentally unstable state. He went into the house and saw a woman lying on the bed.

He looked at her and saw only a woman. He was confused and did not know what he was doing. Kusumawathi woke up suddenly and saw her grandson standing over her. She was confused. She asked, “Son, why are you here? Why are you looking at me like that, is something wrong?”

Jayantha did not hear what her grandmother was saying. He was in another world, and lust was overpowering him. He stumbled on top of her. Kusumawathi’s feeble cries were not heard by anyone. The next day villagers found the lifeless body of Kusumawathi. The medical officer said that she had been brutally raped before being killed.

On the instructions of the Galnewa police OIC, IP Susantha Ekanayaka and a police team rushed to the scene and arrested Jayantha on suspicion of killing Kusumawahi in her residence.

(Names are fictitious)