Sports teacher jailed for abuse

Sports teacher creeps into each room separately ...
saying .. for medical check ups

The court case where a sports teacher from a school in Galnewa area in Anuradhapura had brought 2 female students of the school to Colombo and had found them lodging in rooms of a hotel ... abusing them from time to time, was conducted yesterday.

This teacher, S.Thushara Priyashantha had obtained permission for the 2 girls skilled in sports on the pretext of obtaining sports competency certificates which was considered a requisite. He had brought these students to Colombo from Anuradhapura on July 29th and permission for the journey had been granted by the parents of the girls since both students were to travel together in the company of the sports teacher. But the teacher who escorted them this way had told the students that he would get the medical check ups done from a place known to him and had subsequently taken them to a hotel in Waduwegama and provided them lodging there saying that a nurse would be coming over from a nearby medical institution to conduct the medical tests. He had thus arranged 2 separate rooms for them saying that it would facilitate matters by doing so.

However, after dusk, the person who tapped on the door of the room where the students were staying was not a nurse who was supposed to carry out the medical tests ... but the sports teacher himself. On entering one room he had locked the door, cautioning the girl inside not to shout and not to tell anybody and thereafter had abused her sexually. In this same manner, after a few hours he had entered the room of the other student too and had managed to abuse her also.

Subsequent to this act, what he had told the girls was, "Don't go and tell anybody about this ... if you want to reach the top level in sports ... I'll help you'll ... anybody who comes to Colombo face experiences like this".

The 2 girl students who were shocked by this unexpected incident had immediately informed their parents after which the said sports teacher had ended up in police custody. The teacher, S.Thushara Priyashantha was arrested by the police on suspicion of having subjected these 2 girl students to sexual abuse on the pretext of having a medical check up done, and was thus remanded.

In the meantime, further investigations conducted on this teacher revealed that he had committed a similar serious offence of sexual abuse on 2 other girl students of the same school and had even gone to the extent of videoing the related scenes.

As such, another separate case was filed a few days ago against him at the Kekirawa Magistrate's court and scenes of the said videos were found in the laptop computer which was in the possession of the teacher. Police then took steps to take into custody the laptop too into custody.

At the time the case was being heard yesterday, lawyers of the students said that the accused party was trying several attempts to settle the case through monetary transactions and that he be severely warned against it.

Miss Darshika Wimalasiri, Mahara Magistrate ordered that the sports teacher be remanded further until the 23rd.