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Land dispute ends in murder
By Lakmali Jayasinghe and Priyanwada Ranawaka
The serene village of Parakaduwa in Eheliyagoda expirenced one of the most gruesome incidents last Sunday when a brother and sister were chopped to death by their cousin brother over a land dispute. What was more shocking was that the suspect a 15-year-old was allegedly manipulated by his mother.

24-year-old Susantha Prasanna Hettiarachchi and 23-year-old Swarna Jayanthi Kumari the victims had never dreamt that their life would come to end in such a tragic manner. Their mother T.A. Kusumawathi who received severe head and body injuries is warded at the Colombo National Hospital.

Recalling the horrific incident Kusumawathie said that she saw Rumesh her nephew coming towards her with a sword in his hand. 'He struck my hand at first and after a couple of slashes from the sword I fell to the floor and then felt more stabs.

omebody hit me as well. I can remember seeing Podinona, that is my sister-in-law and her mother at the door of their house watching me being attacked. I felt someone dragging me along the ground and then I lost consciousness. When I woke up I was next to the stream that ran behind our house. I heard my daughter screaming. I dragged myself up the steep path in the semi-darkness. Silently I crept into the house making sure they won't see me", explained Kusumawathi.

According to Kusumawathi the land dispute between the two families had existed for more than 15 years. "This has been the root cause that led to all the ill will and the trouble between our families", Kusumawathi said lying on her hospital bed, with three fingers of her right hand cut off, her head bandaged after surgery, and her body covered with bruises.

"I did not know that my two children were murdered, I found this out only very much later", she said. Just about ten feet of land lay between the two houses situated on a land of not more than one and half acres. The land was owned by Kusumawathi's mother-in-law who was living with her daughter (Kusumawathi's sister-in-law).

Not surprisingly the suspect 15-year-old S.A. Rumesh a grade 10 student of Ambalampitiya Maha Vidyalaya has been a loner who hardly mixed with his classmates. The Principal of the school, Piyadasa Pathirana told The Sunday Times that he was frequently absent from school.

“I tried to contact his mother but even after sending her three messages, she showed little or no interest in the matter", the principal said. His friends at school appeared shocked to know of Rumesh's involvement in the attack. "He never discussed his family problems with us", they said.

21-year-old Kanchana Sakunthala Kumari, a sister of the victims said both Susantha and Swarna had plans to marry at the beginning of next year. "My brother bought a piece of land in Kosgama recently and he was planning to build a house there. My mother and sister were both going to shift to that house since they were constantly being harassed by our aunt", Kanchana said.

Rumesh, his mother and a friend of Rumesh, 18-year-old Suresh Nandana who was also alleged to be involved in the murder, are at present held in the Awissawella Remand. The police said the suspect Rumesh Sameera had confessed to committing the murders.

"My mother had told me that this land dispute was going on even before I was born. She was always telling me that we should get rid of them so we could own the land. I hated them, that's why I killed them" the suspect said.

The Eheliyagoda Police said that there had been a long-standing enmity between these two families. "We have located reports of only two such complaints", Eheliyagoda Police Inspector Bernard Solanga Arachchi said, dismissing claims that Kusumawathi had lodged more than fifty complaints.

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