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Tsunami
gold chain horror:Murder charges against suspects The
moving pictures of the woman drowning after being caught in the
first wave, rescued by two bystanders and again being caught in
the second wave and finally two other bystanders snatching the gold
chain was captured on video camera of journalist Ajantha Samarawickrama,
Galle correspondent for our sister paper ‘Lankadeepa’
and Independent Television Network. Accordingly the two men who were arrested and remanded on January 17 were produced in courts and released on a cash bail of Rs. 50,000 each and Rs. 500,000 personal bail each. On seeing the photographs of the incident in our sister paper ‘Lankadeepa’, Galle police HQI of the anti-vice squad, Chief Inspector Sarath Mendis who was the brains behind the whole operation, went all out to arrest not only the duo who took her chain away but also the two others who first took her out of the water and placed her on the pavement near the Galle bus terminus, with her chain intact. All four were arrested after a painstaking investigation by this conscientious police officer who came in for praise for a job well done. After the two men were remanded, Chief Inspector Mendis had sought advice from the Attorney General on charging them for murder after theft of a chain. He was well armed with the relevant video tapes, photographs and other documents and accounts from witnesses gathered by him. This case will go down in the history of our courts as one which was concluded sans a post mortem where the body was not available. It will also be the first where no witnesses were called other than evidence on film and on video tapes. The story of the dead woman is a sad tale. She is said to have suffered from a chest illness which stalled her education while in Grade 4. She was employed in the coir industry to help her poor parents. Her sister-in-law had died while giving birth to her third child, which made her brother commit suicide. It fell on her to educate, feed and look after his children too, which explains why she remained a spinster. Desika fell victim to the tsunami at the Galle bus stand while accompanying her niece Duleeka Jayamali to see a woman who was conducting cake-making classes. At first it was Duleeka who was swept away by the first wave. Desika had gone further when the water receded in search of Jayamali when the second wave of the deadly tsunami swept her away too. It was at this time the first two young men had rescued and brought her to the pavement near the Galle bus stand. Just then the second duo had come there with one of them saying to the other ‘hey, this woman is not dead’. Then while attempting to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation one of them had seen the chain round her neck. Thereupon he had tried to snatch the gold chain when his accomplice tried to do so too. The result was that the chain broke in two. Desika was alive at that moment, but the men were more interested in the gold chain rather than in saving her life. So they threw her back into the water and fled the scene. Chief Inspector Mendis told The Sunday Times “I studied the photographs of the men well and it helped me to identify one. He had a history of looting and taking drugs. He had moved away from his home town and when arrested he was in possession of the broken chain. On the day of the tsunami he had robbed Rs. 35,000 from a shop. I was able to locate the clothes he wore on that day. Grilling him at length I was able to arrest the second man together with the clothes he wore on that day. He had pawned the part of the chain he grabbed from the dying woman”. The woman’s mother had identified the broken chain as that of her daughter’s while a torn portion of the dress worn by the woman was shown by the mother to the police officer who produced all these in court as documents to substantiate the case. P.Jayalath Nona (63), Desika’s mother said “It was this daughter who provided for us and the children of my dead son. She worked hard at her job to sustain us and only God above knows this. We identified the dead from photographs displayed at the Karapitiya hospital. If not for this police officer the story behind my daughter’s death would never have come to light. I am sure the chain was snatched while she was still alive. I have seen five photographs of that scene and it is evident that it was in a brutal manner that the snatchers pulled her chain from her neck. It is a pity that she lost her life due to a chain worth two sovereigns only.” Her father D.Jayaneris (66) had this to say “I am a paralytic and my wife is blind. After we lost our daughter, we were left destitute. It was my daughter who assisted me while I was suffering from paralysis and brought some relief to me. After her demise I became worse and now I cannot walk. I have to spend about Rs. 2100 monthly on my medicine and we get only Rs. 15,000 from the Government plus another Rs. 5000 I only request that proper investigations be made regarding my daughter’s death and we be given help to live on. We are happy the authorities have pursued the case by studying the videos and taking action against the culprits.” |
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