Kottawa mother murdered by her daughter - UPDATES

One day grandma was wrapped in a white cloth ... after that I didn't see her
   
    Police who are conducting investigations on the gruesome incident where a daughter had murdered her own mother and had dumped the body into a cess pit in the house for fear that her mother would tell her husband about the illicit affair she was having had uncovered a host of further fresh information leading to this case which took place recently in Kottawa.
   The younger daughter suspected of the killing, Danusha Nilanthi of the deceased woman had lived in this house with her together with the 2 daughters of the suspect who were studying in class 7 and the other in O/L class at that time. Her husband Dayaratna had gone to Middle East for the purpose of collecting some money needed to complete the house which at that time was under construction. He had exposed to the police that his wife had not only misused the monies he had sent during the period when he was in Middle East but had even played hell by getting entangled with 3 other men. She has had illicit affairs initially with a three-wheel driver and subsequently with a 'baas' helper who had come for work in the construction of the house and then another 'baas' named Indika who had come for the same purpose. Danusha's mother had constantly warned her against this type of behaviour saying she was a mother of 2 grown up daughters.

    But turning a deaf ear to her mother's warnings she had been inviting her paramour to the house from time to time and had also been living in fear at the same time that if her husband comes to  know about this clandestine affair he would stop remitting her the money. Her mother's threats, "You stop that nonsense .... I'll tell your husband everything!" made her think her mother was a nuisance.

    As the connection she had with Indika 'baas' became too serious, a necessity cropped up where she was compelled to marry him. As her mother would never grant her consent  for this idea, it is suspected that such a thought of killing the mother may have dawned on her.

   The manner in which the murder was concealed from the 2 schoolgoing children in the house is still not clear. However, according to the statement given by Dayaratna to the police, the 2 daughters had told him that during the period when he was abroad, their mother and 'baappa' had most often quarreled with their grandmother. The daughters had also told that one day they had noticed their grandmother was lying on a bed draped in a white saree.

    Danusha and Indika had got together and had committed this murder and subsequently wrapped the corpse in polythene and bed-sheets and finally dumped the body into the cess pit in the house which is 3 metres deep. It was revealed to the police that they had thrown the body into the cess pit with the aid of a saree of the mother herself.   
 
    The deceased Rohini Perera has 2 other daughters and 1 son. The younger son of the deceased, Priyantha Kumara incidentally is the chief 'kapumahaththaya' of the Maharagama Vipashyarama vihara. He said that after his mother was not to be seen he had gone to Kottawa police station and made an entry to this effect. A search was made on those who died during that period to find out whether the dead person was their mother. As they could not find even her dead body anywhere like that, i too suspected that my mother had aimlessly walked away somewhere, the way my elder sister told. He said that he never suspected that his elder sister would kill his mother.

   Danusha in her statement given to the police in the month of June had stated that she suspected her mother may have gone somewhere aimlessly because she was not in a sound frame of mind, referring to her disappearance. It was revealed at the investigations that the 2 suspects had various strategies up their sleeve to give the impression that the deceased had aimlessly wandered somewhere.

   As such, the police who came home during that period were shown an egg kept in a bowl with names of members of the family and neighbours written put inside the bowl and were told that it was the work of their crazy mother. Since the police were not able to detect anything suspicious in relation to a murder, had dropped the investigations further during that period.

  It was because of the personal inquiries made by Dayaratna who returned home in April after his stint in Middle East that he found that his wife had entered into an illegal marriage with her paramour and had been living in a house in a neighbouring piece of land. Only the 2 children were found living in the house. The daughters had mentioned that a short time after the grandmother had died, mother had entered into marriage with 'baappa' and had gone away to live separately in a different house.

  Though Dayaratna had got this news when he was abroad, he had realised the gravity of it all only when he came back to Sri Lanka. Therefore he had no desire to unite with his wife who had committed adultery and has gone to live separately after deserting his 2 children too. He had then spent the last few months making up his mind to educate his children and live with them separately. He had of course initially thought that his wife's disappearance was a reality. However, he had received information from two outsiders that this story was a suspicious one. Indika 'baas' and Danushka had borrowed some money on loan basis from 2 friends but had not been able to repay the money so borrowed. They had then come to Indika's house from time to time and asked for the money.   
 
  Ultimately being outraged they had approached Dayaratna saying, "We know about these rascals ... these rascals killed their own mother ... we'll let out this secret!" and had conveyed all possible information they were aware of. What they said was that Danusha's mother was killed and that the dead body was dumped in the toilet pit in the house and to conduct a search.

  "When father was abroad, mother and 'baappa' always had fights with our grandmother. One day grandmother was draped in a white saree and kept on a bed. After that grandmother was not to be seen". This information which the daughters had told sometime before once again came to Dayaratna's mind.

  Dayaratna had not taken any steps to open up the cess pit after he got the news about the dead body, but had instead complained to the special investigation unit of Mirihana police. But unfortunately there had been no prompt action in checking the said cess pit.

  Subsequently Dayaratna had once again made a complaint at the Kottawa police station after which action was taken to exhume the body.

  As a result of the dead body being in the pit for a period of over 2 years, the police said that only the bones of the body were available.

  The relations were able to identify that it was the body of missing Rohini Perera from the teeth on her top jaw and the bottom jaw in her mouth.

  Apart from the act of homicide, Danusha Nilanthi and Indika Prabath who had entered into a second marriage had disappeared from the area and the police now suspect that they are in hiding in Tissamaharama.