The forbidden fruit turns sour

By Ananda Agalakada

Wickramaratne met his wife Jeeva at a very young age. She was a beauty and had greenish blue eyes resembling cat's eyes with thick lashes and dark, curly hair hanging straight down beyond her hips. The ends of her hair looked as if they were kissing the earth. She was so bewitching that if one had a first look at her, he would want to look at her over and over again. Her looks mesmerised many men in her village. Now Jeeva found that many young men were attracted by her beauty and she began playing around with them. There were several allegations that she was having illicit affairs with young men in the village.

Even after her marriage she continued running around with men totally ignoring the fact that she was married.

However, her marriage continued and she bore three children for her legally married husband, Sikkumaduge Wickramaratne, 40, from Deewara Gammanaya China-bay was employed in the fishery industry in Trincomalee when he married Jeeva.

Rumours

Many were the times that her husband had been informed of her illicit affairs but he did not take serious note and ignored the rumours that came his way. They became parents to three lovely children of whom two were girls and the youngest of them was a boy. Wickramaratne thought that after becoming a mother she would mend her ways and was ready to forget and forgive and forget for the sake of the children. But Jeeva carried on her clandestine affairs.

Wickremaratne was an innocent, hard-working man. He was proud of his beautiful wife.

He even avoided keeping company with his friends because he feared that his wife would start an illicit affair with one of them.

He valued family life and did everything within his capacity to live in harmony with his wife and children. What is more, he always had dinner with the family.

He used to return home for dinner. He also bought food his wife and children relished and shared it with all the family members. Maintaining family harmony was uppermost in his mind.But all this was of no avail. Jeeva did not appreciate her husband's affection and loyalty. She was always drawn to other men – the forbidden fruit.

One day, Wickramaratne woke up early in the morning and went to work. He valued his job because he was the sole breadwinner of the family.

He did not have the means to provide them with every luxury but ensured that he provided the basics and that they did not go hungry.

He endeavoured to fulfil his duty by his wife and children in the best possible manner.However, the situation was getting out of control and there were many arguments between husband and wife. Jeeva however won the verbal battles. She lied to him all the time.

Wickramaratne was now very strict with her and the suspicions about her were growing but he kept his temper under control.

Neighbours

Wickramaratne came to know about her illicit affairs from the neighbours. The whole neighbourhood was aware that Jeeva was up to no good and Wickremaratne was in a terrible state of mind. He continued to brood over her behaviour.

He pleaded with her to give up her wayward life and turn a new leaf in life saying that he was willing to forgive her for her past actions. He pointed out to her that their two children were old enough to understand what was happening.

Jeeva did not accede to his pleas. She continued with her latest illicit affair with a village youth. Wickramaratne was worried about his two children and wondered what their fate would be if he took stern action against his wife. He wanted to live with her because of his two children.

He always thought about this every time he felt like taking drastic action against her. His children always were uppermost in his mind.

At work too these thought kept haunting him and he could not bear the hints passed by his neighbours. He wanted to secure the future of his two daughters. But there was a problem, the girls were not of marriageable age. They were below 18 years.

However, Wickramaratne managed to find partners for his daughters and got the consent of their parents and gave them in marriage. He knew his son was too small and he could not manage alone. He turned to his wife and asked her to give up her affair. Jeeva, however, did not listen to him and continued with her illicit love affair. This time around Wickramaratne realised that Jeeva would never reform herself. He wanted to kill her and commit suicide.

In this backdrop, Wickramaratne left Trincomalee town. The neighbours said, he used to return home intoxicated. However, they never thought that Wickramaratne would take such a drastic step because all these years he had been very patient.

Wickramaratne had for the last time asked his wife if she was prepared to give up her immoral life and live peacefully with him and their son.

When she refused in a sudden rage he had taken a knife and pounced on her. He did not think twice and stabbed her till she fell unconscious. Blood was oozing out from all the stab injuries and Jeeva was howling in pain.

Escape

Wickramaratne thinking that his wife had died had run away to escape arrest. Jeeva was rushed to the Trincomalee hospital by the neighbours and doctors saved her life. On the following day, Wickramaratne committed suicide keeping his neck on the track while the train was speeding towards Colombo. After returning from hospital Jeeva had pleaded with her paramour to continue the extra-marital relationship but he had refused to do so.

The HQI of the China-bay police Abeyratne Bandara and a team of police officers are conducting further investigations.