The death of a three-month-old baby whose body was found at the bottom of a 40-foot-deep well, followed by the arrest of the child’s grandmother, has shocked the residents of Galewala, a village in the Kurunegala district.
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| Galewala Police and the Dambulla magistrate look on as body of Gayathma Dilmani Perera is recovered from the well |
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| Family members and neighbours gather as police recover baby’s body |
The case took a dramatic turn when the focus of police investigations shifted from the prime suspect, a 13-year-old domestic helper living with the family, to the family members themselves.
According to the police, the infant Gayathma Dilmani Perera’s body was found in an abandoned well, after family members raised an outcry that the child was missing.
Initially, police suspicions were focused on the domestic helper, the daughter of a poor family in Polonnaruwa who was forced to leave school and start working in order to help her family. The girl was employed by E. N. K. Perera, a schoolmaster who also had a timber business.
The domestic helper was put in charge of the infant and two other children, one five years, the other three-and-half-a-years.
Police questioning of the domestic helper revealed that the infant had sustained injuries during a violent argument between the chief householder and his wife.
The domestic helper had also said that the infant’s grandmother, W. A. Marynona, had instructed her to “dump the child in the well”. The police subsequently arrested Marynona.
Dambulla Magistrate Nimal Ratnaweera has ordered that Marynona be remanded till April 8. Meanwhile, the police have put the domestic helper under the protection of a child care centre in the area.
Inspector Gamini Meegahakumbura of the Galewela Police is heading investigations, assisted by Galewela Crimes OIC I. P. Tennakoon and Sergeants Sirinama and Jayasuriya |
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