Solving the case of the murdered maiden
 

After painstaking detective work, Police unravelled the mystery surrounding the murder of Nishadi Buddika (26), the pretty lass, whose body was found on the threshold of a paddyfield at Mirigama a fortnight ago. The assassins allegedly had raped her and strangled her to death before escaping that night.

People in her native village were outraged when they heard about the murder of Nishadi Buddika. She was abducted on her way home that night by two men. She was employed in an employment agency in Colombo and commuted daily to work by train. The tragic death sent shock waves in her native village. Nobody had the slightest clue as to who the culprits were and the motive for the murder. Her mother too was baffled because Nishadi had no enemies in the village. In fact Nishadi was busy making preparations for her wedding in the following month, when tragedy struck her.

The breakthrough came after the Gampaha police was tipped off by an informant that a young beggar who used to hang around near the Wilwatte railway station had disappeared suddenly after the murder was reported. Subsequently a police party led by Sub Inspector Jayakody of the Gampaha police arrested the suspect at the Mirigama bus stand last Monday. The horrible murder happened while Nishadi was walking along a footpath that night near a paddyfield. She chose the footpath as it was the shortest route home. Usually her mother accompanied her, but due to incessant rain that evening she had missed her daughter at the Wilwatte railway station. Due to a power failure the entire area was plunged in darkness. The suspect had noticed Nishadi returning home alone that evening. He was with another man in a paddyfield consuming liquor. He caught Nishadi and then dragged her with the help of his friend to the threshold of the paddyfield. He then suffocated her by pressing her throat till she fainted. Thereafter both men allegedly raped her and vanished into the darkness.

According to the Gampaha police, the suspect was a well built man of 26 years, a native of Kosettedeniya in the Ambepussa area. He made a living by posing off as a dumb person and begging on trains. His modus operandi was distributing leaflets among passengers that his brother was an epileptic victim and begging for cash. Previously he had sold "Vaddai" in the train. While under interrogation the suspect admitted having raped and strangled Nishadi to death with his friend. He told police that on the day of the murder he consumed liquor with his friend in the paddyfield. Both men fled after she collapsed and passed away. Police later recovered Nishadi's gold chain and her pair of earrings from the suspect. The police team later arrested the other suspect while he was at his home at Attanagalle.

According to OIC Crimes Gampaha Police station, Sub Inspector Sisira Kumara Jayakody, the main suspect had been living with two sisters at Ambepussa. He had been in Prison for raping a woman passenger inside a train with his brother-in-law last May. The woman miraculously escaped death from the assailants. It was just three days prior to the murder that the suspect was released on bail from prison. The suspect told police that to cover up evidence after raping Nishadi, he had mutilated the victim's genital area. Fearing the police would find him, he went to Mahiyangana and returned last week after reading in the newspapers that the police were not looking for him. The murder happened on November 3 2006. Although Nishadi's mother went to the Wilwatte railway station every day around 5.30 pm to pick up her daughter on that fatal day she didn't meet her. It had rained heavily that evening and looked gloomy. The street lights were out and the area was in complete darkness. Nishadi's mother took shelter in a boutique near the Wilwatte railway station as it continued to rain. She had stayed behind till 9 pm. But as she did not meet her daughter she went home and discovered that she had not come home. She then phoned up Nishadi's, fianc‚ and told him about her absence. Later he looked for her with Nishadi's younger brother. They went along a footpath that leads to a paddyfield and found her naked body under the bullock cart.

Further investigations are being directed by DIG Western Province North Prathapasinghe, along with SSP, Gampaha, Shantha Rajapakse, SP, D. Tennekon. The team of police officers who inquired into the case was HQI Gampaha Police Chief Inspector Samaranayake and OIC Crimes Sub Inspector Sisira Kumara Jayakody, Sub Inspector B. Jayasinghe, Police Sergeant 27579 A. Senanayake, 5510 Liyanaarchchi, 29652 Wasantha, Police Constable 55393 Ruwan, 36175, Senanayake Police Assistant Sriyantha, Police Driver 10733 Ranjith.

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