News
Dial M for Murder … killer trapped by mobile he used to check on Mel
When well-known journalist and analyst Mel Gunasekera lingered longer than expected with her old St. Bridget’s schoolmates on Saturday night last weekend the 40-year-old unwittingly set in train a tragedy that ended with her dead in a pool of blood, slain by a man she had once trusted and employed.
Mel – founder of one of Sri Lanka’s best-known financial news portals Lanka Business Online, a former reporter for the French news agency AFP, the Sunday Times and until her death employed by the international ratings agency Fitch – returned home late around 10.30 p.m. and was still fast asleep when her family was getting ready to go to church on Sunday morning.
Not wanting to disturb her, Mel’s parents and brothers left without her as they set off between 6.30a.m. and 7a.m. for Sunday Mass at St. Fathima Church, Battaramulla as usual.
Soon after their departure, 39-year-old Anthony Russan George, who was familiar with the surroundings of Mel’s residence at Gemunu Mawantha, Subuthipura, Battaramulla, put into action a plan he had formed just before Christmas.
George was familiar not only with the interior of the house which he had painted during a four-day period but also the adjoining building, earlier used as a polythene factory, owned by Mel’s family. George’s sister had worked at the factory and it was she who had introduced George to the family.
George approached Mel’s home and wanted to check whether anyone was in the house. He used his mobile phone to call the land phone at the house at 7.15 a.m. that fatal Sunday. After six seconds he rang off and two minutes later made a second call.
According to the statement by George to the police, Mel picked up the phone and answered, saying “Hello”, and hung up as George had not spoken.
A garment worn by the suspect
George decided to briefly hold back his plans to break into the house as he thought that Mel was preparing to leave for church. He decided to leave the scene and return a short while later.
Ten minutes later, a CCTV camera fitted on the residence of the Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Bandu Wickremasinghe picked up images of George, dressed in a yellow T-shirt and light blue denims walking up the lane towards Mel’s residence. Twelve minutes later, George was seen walking along the same road, this time with a betel pack in his hand. His images had again been picked up by the CCTV.
Mel’s home is on a circular road and George had walked past the house and circled back, believing that he had given sufficient time for Mel to leave for church.
George then scaled the wall and went directly to a window. He used a screwdriver to force open the latch and climbed in.
He picked up a knife from the kitchen.
Mel, who was in the kitchen at that moment, had screamed “Mokada methana karanne? Eliyata behepan!” (What are you doing here? Get out!).
Mel grappled with George and as a result a table with kitchen items had toppled. She caught a cushion, trying to protect herself from the knife but George stabbed her. Fighting hard for her life she had tried to grab the knife and in the struggle the knife broke.
George seized a second knife from the kitchen and stabbed Mel again, leaving her mortally wounded.
Mel’s screams had been heard by a neighbour who was in his house on the upper floor. He came downstairs and looked around but since he did not hear any further noises and could not find anything suspicious he returned to his work.
The suspect Anthony Russan George. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Mel’s parents and brother returned about two hours later and found the gate open. They entered the house and found Mel in a pool of blood.
The police emergency service was alerted and police teams and the sniffer dogs arrived on the scene. Soon the sniffer dog started to follow the path taken by the suspect. They found he had gone past a house fitted with CCTV cameras and quickly made use of this equipment.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Colombo South) Sumith Edirisinghe based at Mirihana, Nugegoda assigned six different teams for the investigation under the supervision of Inspector of Police Nimal Karunaratne of the Special Branch.
Analysis of the video footage showed that the same person who had gone past the house on two occasions dressed in a yellow T-shirt and blue denim was seen hurriedly returning at 8.04 am, this time dressed in a light-blue short-sleeved shirt and black trousers.
Mel’s family were shown the footage and identified the man who had worked as a painter in their house as well as the adjoining building which was about to be rented out.
Mel’s father, Marcus Gunasekara, had George’s sister’s number. In a ruse, police called her and, saying there was a painting job on offer, requested his contact number. She gave them his mobile number.
Now technology again entered the hunt. Police checked the communication tower to locate the area where the phone was. The phone trace revealed that George was in the Hokandara area, where he had been residing three years previously.
Police teams rushed to the area but failed to find him. Residents in the area confirmed, however, that George was living at a location close to a temple.
Another police team using the National Identity Card number that George had used to obtain the phone connection visited the respective Grama Sevaka division and located his exact whereabouts from the electoral register.
A policeman in civvies visited the house located at 238/3, New Road Dompe, and inquired where George was, saying there was an urgent paint job to be done. George’s wife, his four children and mother were present. They told the policeman that after many days he had obtained some work and left in the morning but had not returned.
Policemen set up an ambush close to the house. Around 8.30 p.m. a man walked up dressed in the yellow T-shirt seen in the CCTV footage. He appeared to be under the influence of liquor.
During investigations it was revealed that George had consumed liquor and bought lunch using part of the Rs 1,200 he had taken from Mel’s residence. The only other item he had taken was Mel’s mobile phone.
Police said that George claimed that he carried out the murder after he had been unexpectedly confronted by Mel. However this claim is being investigated as the suspect has admitted that Mel had answered the phone and that he had been aware of her presence in the house.
“We are checking that claim because he returned in a short while after his call was answered,” an officer involved in the investigations said.
George had been jailed in 2010 for a short period for carrying out a burglary at a previous place of employment. Police are checking out whether he has any other criminal records against him.
Further investigations have revealed that he had used his mobile to call the landline at Mel’s house even the previous day at 7.25pm. The phone had rung for 10 seconds before the call was terminated. Police said they were trying to ascertain whether he had planned to carry out the robbery that night.
Investigations have revealed that during the four days he had worked at Mel’s house he had been planning the robbery; he had fed the dogs in order to befriend them.
The suspect was produced before the Kaduwela Acting Magistrate Hemapala Ekanayaka and remanded until February 18.
Mel’s funeral was held at the General Cemetery Borella on Tuesday amidst a large gathering.
| Cause of death – injury to neck
The cause of death of former journalist Mel Gunasekera has been stated as “cut injury of the neck,” by Prof. Ravindra Fernando, Senior Professor of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. Prof. Fernando had conducted the post-mortem with a team of forensic pathologists last Monday at the Medico-Legal Morgue at Borella. Loose talk leads to danger Deputy Inspector General of Police (Colombo South) Sumith Edirisinghe requested the public to be cautious when disclosing details about movements of family members to people employed on a casual basis or even discussing these movements among family members in the “During investigations into the murder of Mel Gunasekara we found that the suspect had gathered details about the movement of the family members. The information had been used by the suspect when he planned the robbery,” DIG Edirisinghe said. He said that whenever persons are employed on a temporary basis the identity card and documents could be checked. Ideally, there should be a recommendation from another person who knows the prospective employee. CCTV can protect homes
The device would be particularly useful when a house is left unoccupied for long periods and when the householders are out for long periods.
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presence of such workers.
Inspector Nimal Karunaratne who was involved in the investigations said that closed circuit television cameras were invaluable help in investigating this crime and would be useful in preventing crime as well.