Mahout’s death described by colleague

A mahout described at an inquest how a fellow mahout was trampled to death by an elephant which was taken by the victim to the Mahaweli Ganga at Tennekumbura for a bath. The elephant was brought to Kandy to participate in the Esala Perahera. The inquest was held before the Kandy Coroner and attorney-at-law M. Piyatilleke Matugama.

Mahout Herath Banda from Galapitamada told the coroner he came to know the victim Gunasekera only when he came to participate in the Esala Perahera and on the day of the incident he had taken his elephant along with three other elephants to the Mahaweli Ganga for their bath.

The elephant which belonged to 'Alawwa Sudu Mahattaya' was taken by Gunasekera who stood on a rock and called out to his elephant. However, instead of obeying the mahout, the elephant had struck him and when he fell down, had started to trample him and push him into a crevice in the rock.

The victim’s brother Shelton Gunasekera from Samagigama, Ratnapura told the coroner that the victim Shantha was his elder brother and there were four brothers in the family. Shantha was the breadwinner of the family since their parents died and was looking after the elephant for the last eight years, he said.

The Kandy Judicial Medical Officer Dr.A.B.Seneviratne held the post mortem examination and returned a verdict of death due to trampling by the elephant. Police Constable Dhammika of the Police Post led evidence.