Crime Watch with Eagle Eye

The murder of Wasantha Soysa:

Killing with premeditated purpose

The loss of a human life is a tragedy. The UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) states that 437,000 people were murdered globally during 2012.Our nation was again plunged into deep shock over the most cowardly and brutal murder of martial arts champion Wasantha Soysa. Over the years, Master Soysa was a man who had brought fame to Sri Lanka by his daring exploits in karate and displays of strength and endurance. The way he was murdered by a violent group of around 15 or 20 men, as seen on the CCTV footage, clearly demonstrates that some human beings, living in this high tech era still have within their fractured psyche the traits of a pack animal.

Pack Hunter

A pack hunter or social predator is an animal belonging to a pack, which is able to stalk and hunt prey by working together. This includes the wolf, dolphins, lions, spotted hyenas and indeed humans! There are also avian social predators such as hawks and falcons. Even crocodiles who are generally solitary hunters have been known to ambush and take down prey in the 'pack hunt' manner. The bond between man and dog can also be traced to their mutual understanding of pack hunting and sharing their kill in ancient times. This practice continues to this day as specialized dog breeds are used for hunting, and rewarded with a portion of meat.

Both Man and dog are interdependent, and have within their hierarchy an 'alpha' male or dominant leader, who 'supervises' the rapid kill. Drawing a parallel to the crime case the group responsible for Master Soysa's death also would have a leader who orchestrated this bloody strike.

We may ask why did this killer not use a gun with a silencer, which is the current universal trend in direct killing? Why did they have to come in a large and obvious group, throw devices that caused mild fires within the restaurant and then proceed to attack the victim with iron bars and wooden clubs? This is very clearly indicative of their 'pack hunt' killer mentality.

Cooperative Hunting

In the animal kingdom we see this pattern as an act of 'cooperative hunting' where meat eating animals collectively hunt in groups. Here the predators after selecting a large prey, knowing well that they cannot bring down the animal alone, and can only succeed in a combined killing effort. After locating their victim they will surround and use tactics of intimidation by ferocious growling or roaring. They are relying on safety in numbers.

Now within this pack are two kinds of animals. One is the cooperative killer who will participate in the attack directly. Second is the Scavenger, who may contribute by growling and some fake offensive thrusts but not take part in the kill, but waits for his portion. Often in attacks by gangsters, we see similar traits while few would surround an innocent victim the initial thrust by knife or sword is made by one person, and then the others would 'contribute' by additional stabbing or cutting.

Craig Packer and Lore Ruttan (1988) have studied this pattern of cooperative killing in animals and have come up with the theory of Evolutionary Stable Strategy ( ESS), where a pack combines to kill a prey, which is bound to increases their hunting efficiency, and perhaps minimize risk.

Gangster's Paradise

Whilst animals join in packs to simply hunt and survive, humans form and maintain gangs for criminal purposes. Again from the CCTV clip this is a gang style 'raid and kill' operation. It is simply absurd that some suspects in custody, according to news reports, are now saying that they wanted to intimidate the victim. This gruesome attack bears the hallmarks of a well organised gang. It is somewhat bizarre that the attackers wore hooded clothing (surely to conceal their identity) yet looked like members of the famous KKK in the United States.

By definition a gang is a youth group whose involvement in illegal activity is part of their group identity. A study by the University of Kent, strongly suggests that there is always a kind of reciprocal relationship between gang members and their peers. These persons thrive in an atmosphere that not only fosters but glorifies delinquency. All members who are affiliated with a gang have antisocial and anti authority mindsets. Often they tend to blame their dead (murdered) victims for their own actions. They also display a proclivity for criminal activity which tends to grow as the members become more experienced. From a social and moral perspective these troubled youth earnestly desire to gain respect and status. These actions can be further endorsed by the Control Theory, where people engage in deviant behaviour when their bond to society steadily weakens, often not noticed by family members.

There have been similar attacks and murders in the past, but this is unique as it was captured on camera. Instead of playing this incident down as some isolated village incident, society must accept that our pious nation has now witnessed a premeditated organized crime. Justice must be delivered swiftly.