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Young suspect admits Wennappuwa child killings fearing business loss
The 27-year-old suspect in the hacking to death of two children of one family in Waikkal, Wennappuwa, has admitted his responsibility in court, the police said.
Gimhani and Sahan: Young lives snuffed out by a heinous crime
A simmering dispute over the rainwater runoff from a roof gutter of an unapproved structure made of containers and used as a soup canteen, had boiled over into the killings of two children. The grieving father claims the local authority had ignored the problem, while they reject the suggestion that the suspect had been allowed to erect the container structure.
Electrician, Galla Pathiranage Hemantha Fernando of Waikkal, 56, recalled how it all unfolded.
He had received a call from a neighbour that his water pump was out of order. But when he returned, he saw people running towards his house.
“It was then that I learnt from the neighbours that my two children had been attacked,’’ Mr Fernando said.
His 17-year-old daughter Gimhani Rupasinghe and seven-year-old son Sahan Nethsara, had been slashed with a sword. They were dead on admission to hospital. The girl was a student of Dankotuwa Balika Maha Vidyalaya and the boy was a student of St Mary’s College Nainamadama.
The attacker was a neighbour who had a dispute with Mr Fernando over what appears to be a trivial issue.
“This all began with the gutters he had fixed on to two makeshift containers he had set up to sell soup. From the gutters fixed at a level of about 10 feet above the ground, rainwater flowed down towards a house which I had rented. I asked him to remove them, but he was adamant, and had some political influence. He threatened us with death,’’ Mr Fernando recalled.
“Once he had taken some videos of the girls living in my rented house, too. When I question him he becomes violent, and tries to keep us quiet by force.’’
Mr Fernando blames the local authorities who ignored the problem, for which, his innocent children paid with their lives.
“I didn’t make a complaint to the police, but if the local council, or the authorities had not allowed such illegal buildings, this would not have happened.’’
Mr Fernando said that when his neighbour broke into his house it was between 8:30 and 9:30 am.
“My mother in law, wife and two daughters, and son had been home. My second daughter Himasha Nethumini aged 14 years, who had been working at the table in the sitting room had seen the accused coming with a sword and had run away upstairs calling out for her mother. My only son Sahan, had been riding his bicycle. The accused had slashed him on the head. Then he had run to the kitchen. Pushing aside my elderly mother in law he had run to the back of the kitchen. It is there he had attacked my elder daughter on her neck almost severing her head,’’ he said.
Mr Fernando said that his wife had run on to the road carrying her son, pleading for help.
“The accused came earlier and threatened with a sword saying ‘you have children. I too have a child. Don’t get involved in such things.’ On that day actually didn’t understand what he meant. Now only I understand what he meant. I could have made a complaint to the police, but I didn’t do that thinking that it would provoke him,’’ Mr Fernando, said.
Grief and shock: Area residents at the home of the young victims. Pix by Hiran Priyankara
Priyanthi Fernado, 48, who rents a house from Mr Fernando, said: “I have advised the accused several times and once told him, ‘puthey why do you make it an issue to create unnecessary problems with your neighbours. Please remove the gutters’. Then he became violent and told me ‘mind your own business’. Thereafter I never spoke to him.’’
She added: “After killing them he had run to my house, too carrying the sword. He had banged on the door and called for me, but fortunately, I had been out with my two children. Otherwise, we too would have been killed. This accused had lost his father during his childhood. He must have lost the parental love.’’
The residents were in shock and sorrow over the tragic killing of the two children. Friends, classmates, and neighbours came to pay their last respects.
Sachini Imalsha, 19, of Dankotuwa Balika Maha Vidyalaya , a classmate of Sesali, said: “I cant still believe what has happened to our beloved friend. She was one of our prefects. She was very active and participated in every activity. We loved her because she was humble enough to help us all.’’
Nishadi Gunathilaka, another classmate of her said: “We have just finished our ALs. She is a bright girl who did her ALs in the maths stream. I can’t understand why the society is so cruel. Why do people resort to cruel acts to solve problems? Why cant they solve problems amicably?’’
A nun at the funeral, said justice could not be expected unless law and order is upheld irrespective of status. “Corrupt politicians are behind all these inhuman acts as they allow and encourage these criminal acts.’’
According to the Wennappuwa Police, the accused Warnakulasooriya Miguel Kuttige Isan Sudeep, 28, living at 61 Waikkal, Wennappuwa made a confession before Magistrate Additional District Court Judge Keyminda Perera, and he was ordered to be remanded until September 3.
The suspect said that he opened a roadside canteen using an old container after selling his wife’s land for Rs 2.5 million and had not sought approval for the business as he thought it could be dismantled and removed at any time.
He claimed that he had verbally informed the Pradeshiya Sabha chairman and continued with a business of selling soup and had recordings on his telephone to that effect.
After complaints had been lodged, a technical officer visited the premises and an inquiry was to be held last Tuesday.
He said that on the previous night, the dustbin in front of his shop had been toppled and the wife of Hemantha [Fernando] had taken photographs. He said thereafter he had called 119 and gone to the police on Tuesday.
When he had gone to the police, his mother informed him that the police had called over at his place and warned that if garbage is dumped on the roadside he could be fines Rs 18,000.
“I believed that if I had to change the location of my business it would be due to the misunderstandings of Hemantha’s wife and the neigbhour Priyanthi. I wanted to take revenge and I took the sword and went to the owner’s house. I did not want murder, but I could not bear my anger.”
He said that after the attack 150 to 200 people had gathered at the location and one of them grabbed the sword from him. He later surrendered to the police.
The suspect is the father of one.
But, chairman of the Wennappuwa Pradeshiya Sabha, Susantha Fernando, told the Sunday Times he had not given consent to the suspect as claimed and the council had been investigating the complaints about the inconvenience caused by the structure.
He said that there were also complaints that one of the windows of the container was directly facing the room of the neighbour.
“I had told both parties to call over at the Pradeshiya Sabha on Wednesday, but it was the day before that the tragic incident occurred,’’ he said.
The investigations are being done by OIC Crime Branch Wennappuwa Yasantha Wijesekara under the directions of ASP Erick Perera,HQI Chaminda Fernando.
On Thursday evening a large crowd of friends, teachers and others bade a final farewell to the sister and brother at the Noorani Common Cemetery at Waikkal.
Additional reporting: Hrian Priyankara Jayasinghe and Trxi Conston