At least three black motorcycles with two riders each, wearing full-face helmets, blocked the path of The Sunday Leader Editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge’s vehicle and opened fire at him at close range, at Attitidiya on Thursday, less than half a kilometre away from the Leader office.
Nugegoda Division Superintendent of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon told The Sunday Times that according to eyewitnesses one of the bikes had first blocked his path from the right, while a second bike came from the left and hit the window with a sharp object. The third bike that also came from the right rode close to the side of the driver’s seat and then the riders who came from the right had fired at Mr. Wickrematunge.
He was shot on the chest, ear and head by a 9mm pistol at pointblank range. The assailants are believed to have used a silencer as people in the vicinity had not heard the sound of firing.
Bullet casings were not found at the crime scene and sleuths believe that the assassins would have covered the gun with a cloth which prevents the casings from falling thus leaving no trace of evidence.
The assassins escaped undetected despite the shooting taking place in a high security zone in the proximity the Ratmalana Air Force base. Soon after the shooting a large crowd had gathered around the vehicle. Dinesh Kumara, a supervisor of a printing press located opposite the crime scene told The Sunday Times that he was in the midst of supervising some printing material which was to be delivered when he saw many people gathering in front of his office.
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| Paying tribute to a voice that has been stilled. |
“I went to see what it was all about and I saw a man bleeding inside the vehicle. I stopped a passing van and with the help of another person we put him into the vehicle and rushed him to the Kalubowila hospital. We had no idea who he was,” he said.
“The victim was gasping for breath as he started bleeding from his nose and mouth. He tried to say something but we couldn’t follow what he said. His mobile also started ringing but we couldn’t answer it at that time as we could not get it from his pocket.
“At the hospital they put him on the stretcher and it was only then that we realized that this was the editor of The Sunday Leader as the hospital staff recognized him. His phone rang again and we answered this time and told the caller that Mr. Wickrematunge had been shot and injured,” he said.
Ironically, Mr. Wickrematunge had been cautioned by his driver earlier in the day that someone had been following him on a motorcycle when he left his home at Kandewatta Terrace, Nawala Nugegoda.
Dias Karunaratne who had been employed at Mr. Wickrematunge’s residence for the past two and a half years and was also the caretaker, told The Sunday Times that when Mr. Wickrematunge left his residence at 8.30 a.m. he noticed two suspicious looking individuals on a motorbike who had been outside the residence, trailing Mr. Wickrematunge’s Toyota Corolla no sooner he left .
“One of the security guards in a neighbouring house told me that the bike had been parked outside till Mr. Wickrematunge left. I then immediately got on my bike and thought I would follow Mr. Wickrematunge. Assuming that he would have gone to his office in Ratmalana I went there to warn him as I lost the trail of the suspicious biker and the Toyota Corolla. When I went there Mr. Wickrematunge had still not arrived at the office. So I called him from there and warned him,” Dias said.
“When I called him he did not take me seriously. He was at his other house in Battaramulla. He then asked me to meet him at the Nugegoda supermarket as he had some work for me. So I proceeded to the Nugegoda supermarket where I met him. He gave me a few letters to deliver,” he said.
“Even then I warned him about the bike following him. He took it lightly as he always does as this was not the first time he had been followed. Minutes after I returned home I heard the news that he had been shot and rushed to hospital,” Dias said.
One of the last calls Mr. Wickrematunge had made was to his close friend Tiran Alles, Chairman of the Standard Newspapers Ltd and former Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services.
It is learnt that he had informed Mr. Alles about his vehicle being followed by a motorcyclist. Mr. Alles had then asked him to take precautions.
On the day of the assassination Mr. Wickrematunge was scheduled to meet opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and was billed to take part in an Indian talk show which was to feature some Indian newspaper editors too.
Investigations so far
Four police teams from both the Mt. Lavinia and Mirihana police are probing the case, but are yet to gather any vital evidence. The Mt. Lavinia police is recording statements and is looking into whether there are any links to the threats that Mr. Wickrematunge received in the past.
The Mt. Lavinia Magistrates Court on Friday ordered the mobile operator Dialogue GSM to provide Mr. Wickrematunge's mobile phone records for investigation.
Mt. Lavinia Magistrate Harsha Sirithunga ordered Dialog GSM to immediately release the phone numbers of all the calls made during the past few days from his mobile on a request made by Mt. Lavinia police detectives.
They believe that Mr. Wickrematunge’s movements had probably been monitored by the assailants throughout last week.
What the doctors said
Meanwhile Kalubowila Teaching Hospital Director Dr. Anil Jasinghe, told The Sunday Times that Mr. Wickrematunge was unconscious and in a critical condition with gunshot injuries at the time of admission .
“Our initial plan was to resuscitate him and transfer him to the National Hospital for brain surgery, but he was not in a stable condition,” Dr. Jasinghe said. A team of more than 20 medical specialists including Prof. Mohan de Silva, Dr. Himashi Kularatne and National Hospital Director Dr. Hector Weerasinghe were called in an attempt to revive Wickrematunge.
“But he had received life threatening injuries with severe damage to the brain and despite the best efforts of the medical team, Mr. Wickramatunge succumbed to his injuries,” Dr. Jasinghe said.
Despite a three hour operation, Mr. Wickrematunge was pronounced dead at 2. 10 p.m. While detectives are yet to find the motive for the brutal killing, Mr. Wickrematunge’s colleagues believe his probe on Tuesday’s predawn attack on the MTV/MBC studio complex might be linked to his slaying.
In his last editorial Mr. Wickrematunge had hit out at the country’s deteriorating media freedom. “Who then survives to provide the public with a contrary view? Much of the media has been bought, or cajoled and bullied into silence. Dozens of journalists are dead and others have been incarcerated without trial for months.”
Little did he know then that he had been earmarked as the next target. His funeral will take place tomorrow.
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