Warapitiya undergraduate's murder -- Updates 3

I got a desire seeing Lalani's clothes in disarray in the moonlight
     -- Rapist-murderer's confession

Much information about the manner in which the murder of 24 year old external degree undergraduate Lalani Nadeesha of Warapitiya Walauwwa of Ukuwela, Matale was committed by Denzil Jayawardena (32) and also about his ownself have been revealed by him after he was convicted of guilt over the crime.

The murderer, a father of two had been living at the time 300 metres away from the victim's house and he had come into occupation from Hokandara area to Matale after marriage. His wife too is a well-known neighbour of the deceased. The suspect who came with hopes of thinking that the dowry-money would be inside the said house was able to find a sum of only Rs. 3000 in the bride's handbag.
This is how he unravelled his story to the police saying that he saw Lalani Nadeesha's attractive body and thus developed a desire for it: "I peeped into the room to find out whether there was anything more to steal. The whole house was dark; but moonlight was streaming down on the bed. That light fell from a glass-tile on the roof. The clothes of the girl who was sleeping had got disarrayed. That time I got a desire for the girl. Though I went near the bed, I was scared that the person next to her would awaken. So, thinking of making the girl unconscious, I dealt a blow with the hammer in my hand on her head. She at once became unconscious. Later I carried her outside. I of course thought that she would regain her consciousness later. After noticing the blood I got frightened. It was because of that that I washed her body. It was outside that I raped her".

The suspect had said at the interrogation that the victim was conscious when she was carried out. According to the confession he made to the CID he had admitted that he had gone near a stream and had washed away the blood that was dripping from her head and after removing her clothes, he had raped her nude.

It was understood that at the end of all this he had gone to his house as if nothing had happened and had even visited the deceased's funeral house early in the morning with the villagers and had expressed his sorrow over the death.

Police said that the suspect lived about 300 metres away from the walauwwa where Lalani Nadeesha lived and that he was responsible for a number of thefts too.

It was towards the morning hours of May 25th that Lalani Nadeesha had been raped. The day before, the homecoming ceremony of her brother was held in the house concerned.

The murder remained a mystery because there were no clues that remained about the murderer. In fact, the householders saw Lalani Nadeesha alive on 24th night when she was going to bed and it was during the early hours of the morning that the victim's nude body was found lying in a jungle area a short distance away from her home, beside a stream.

Though suspicion was aroused about the deceased's family members at the beginning of the investigations, officers of the CID were not concerned about delving into any property issues at that point. They had in fact focused their attention on robbers and looters in the area. Their requirement was to trap the murderer because Lalani Nadeesha had been raped and therefore to arrest the culprit by a comparison of the DNA factors.

They had taken steps to produce 16 individuals who were subjected to suspicion and to report to courts after forwarding them to the JMO for the purpose of a DNA examination. It was on that occasion that the DNA pattern of the spermatazoa smearings inside Lalani Nadeesha's vagina and the DNA pattern of the blood secured from the said suspect scientifically tallied. As such, he was taken into custody over the murder of Lalani Nadeesha.

On interrogation the suspect had said that since there was a wedding in that house, he would go early morning on 25th to that house with the idea of stealing anything of value on which he could lay his hands on. Though the householders said that the doors were locked, he said that the main door was not locked.

He said that he carefully stepped over everybody who was sleeping and crept inside every room. He also said that when he went inside the room of the wedding couple the two of them were sound asleep and what he could rob as something of value in the room was only the sum of Rs. 3000 in the bride's handbag.

It was for the suspect's misfortune that he had peeped into the room where Lalani was sleeping.

According to a DNA examination carried out on a blood sample of the suspect at Gintec Institute in Borella, the suspect was arrested on the 9th in Hokandara area by the CID and after being produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate Mr. Gihan Pilapitiya on the 10th, he was produced in Matale Magistrate's Courts yesterday.

The suspect who admitted guilt to the murder of the external undergraduate of the University of Peradeniya, Lalani Nadeesha (24) of Banneheka Walauwwa in Warapitiya, Matale was ordered yesterday (11) by Matale Additional District Judge and Magistrate Mr. Sampath Gamage to be remanded till next 25th.