4 year old Keshani abducted in Kurunegala -- Updates 4

"I kidnapped the child to marry her later, when big" ....
    says 'Grease Gamini' whose mentality was distorted ....
   after watching blue films

"No woman likes to marry me and live together. I took the child away to bring her up and to marry her," confessed 'Grease Gamini' who abducted 4 year old Keshani of Wellawa.

This 31 year old Illeperuma Aarachchige Gamini is said to be a person suffering from a low-mentality involved in peeping into houses where women are and stealthily feeling the body of females by going to them with grease applied on the body, thus displaying distorted desires.

He has revealed all this in the presence of the CID after being nabbed by the villagers accompanied by the police and as such,the police confirmed that the doubt that the child was abducted with the intention of acquiring a treasure by sacrificing her, was thus dispelled.

It was revealed that a few weeks before this he had entered into 3 houses in this manner in Polgahawela area with the objective of abducting 3 small children; however, his attempts had not worked out. Though the suspect had previously been married, his marriage had gone on the rocks and his wife had deserted him. The love affairs he has had after that also has broken up and he is terribly annoyed that women happened to treat him with contempt. The suspect who is supposed to be addicted to watching 'blue films' had for that reason developed distorted desires and he had been subjected to the contempt of the women folk, it is understood. His occupation had been labour-work.

The subject is someone who has been accused sometime ago for having abducted and raped a 14 year old schoolgirl who had been returning home from school. This suspect who had served a jail term for a number of years over the above-mentioned case has been released from jail just an year ago.

On the other hand, Keshani's father was someone who had been involved in a small business by making sweets and distributing them. He had been carrying on his business in a three-wheeler.

Keshani too had been in the habit of going to shops in the company of her father on most occasions. She was a child who would get into conversation with anybody in a very short while. On a number of instances when the father would go to sell his sweets, the suspect had seen the child Keshani and it was after that that he had made plans to kidnap her.

The suspect who had come to the child's house around 2 o'clock early morning last 9th on his push-cycle had cut and slit the polythene covers with which the house was covered with the use of a knife and after removing the covers, had then abducted Keshani who was sleeping on the bed. Later he had kept the child on his push-cycle itself and had taken her to a rock-cave in a jungle area in Wellawa. The suspect who kept the child inside the rock-cave for two days had fed her with eatables robbed from nearby houses and lodging-places. 

Keshani had been made to sleep on the rocky surface in the cave itself. It is exposed that when he had gone on his visits to rob these things he had carried the girl in his arms.The suspect who realised that it was not anymore possible to retain the girl in the cave, had then taken her to his house in Kumbukgete area on the morning of the 11th. What he had told his mother was to keep the child in the house until she became big.

The police had been able to find a type of gum which pastes instantly and the police suspect that he may have kept it in his possession for the purpose of pasting the child's lips whenever she cries.

The suspect had told his mother to tell anybody inquiring about the child that she is someone who is being adopted. It was this same suspect who had made the child sleep on a piece of cardboard prepared for her under the bed in a dark room.This suspect who has no connection with the media of any sort had told the police during interrogation that he was not aware that the news of the missing child had upset the whole country.

The suspect's brother had been involved in brick-work in Kumbukgete area and he happens to live in a house close to the suspect's house. When the suspect's brother returned home on the afternoon of 12th, the mother had told him about this child. He had just then come to know that the child brought by his brother was Keshani who had been missing from Wellawa. The following day he had tried to take the child away to the police when on that occasion the suspect had tried to make an assault on the brother with a knife; but he had managed to get rid of the suspect and had gone to the shop opposite the house, taking the child with him.

He had conveyed this news to the shop-owner and had asked him to inform the police when at that point he had called the 119, thereby notifying the police. As soon as this news was conveyed, a team of police officers had gone into action and had gone to Kumbukgete area and thus taken the child into their care.

By that time, the suspect had fled the scene and the police as well as the villagers had surrounded Kumbukgete area.

The suspect's mother was taken into custody for the offence of aiding and abetting the child to be kept in hiding. In the meanwhile, little Keshani was admitted to Kurunegala Hospital for the purpose of a medical check-up. What was revealed at the medical examination was that no sexual abuse had taken place where the child was concerned. In the meantime, the suspect who abducted the girl had run away from the house and was nabbed in Wellawa area on 13th afternoon.

The police dogs had pursued the scent of a leftover bread crumb eaten by the suspect and had arrived at the area where the suspect had been hiding.

The suspect had been cordoned by the villagers when he had been fleeing to another area on the push- cycle. The suspect who was so nabbed had been thoroughly beaten up by the villagers and by that time had been suffering from serious injuries. After the confessions, he is expected to be produced before courts.

Report -- Hemantha Randunu