15 year old student goes to search for house ... with bridegroom's aid ... falls into a soup!

15 year old student goes to search for house ... with bridegroom's aid ... falls into a soup!

An incident is reported from Wellampitiya where a 15 year old student who has gone in search of a house with assistance of bridegroom ultimately falls into a soup.

A weekend newspaper has carried an marriage proposal advertisement on a certain day in October last year stating "mother seeks a bride for driver-son aged 25 years". A father of a 15 year old

student-daughter who spotted the advertisement has thought this young man would be the future ideal partner for her daughter and subsequently called the telephone number appearing in the advertisement and has informed the would-be bridegroom about his daughter.

Sometime later, on forthcoming November 3rd the boy's elders have visited the girl's home in Wellampitiya and setting eyes on the tender girl on the very first day has given consent to marry the girl concerned. The girl's parents has then told that the girl is still attending school and that the marriage could be finalised after her educational activities are over The young man has come forward and bought school items to the tune of Rs. 12,000 to the girl that day as she was supposed to be schooling. 

The bride's party who were living on a rental basis at Wellampitiya has told the young man that since the period of tenancy was over in the house they were living at that time and that they were on the lookout for a house elsewhere with the motive of searching for a house on rent. The young man has invited the girl's parents to come to reside at his 'loku amma's' house at Wattala, Gongithota the latter of whom resides there as there was room for rent on the top floor of that house and parents of the aspiring girl has gone to live in the said house with the girl. 

After going to reside at the youth's 'loku amma's' house the girl has left home one particular day to go to school saying that she would be leaving early because of the traffic congestion. Whatever it is, the girl who went to school because of the traffic congestion has come back home one day saying that she was not able to go to school because of the traffic congestion. Subsequently the mother and father and the daughter have left the house saying that they were going to attend a family relative's funeral ... but have returned home in the company of officers of Colombo Child and Women's Bureau.

The officers then arrested the young man on charges of statutory rape (minor). Within a short space of time this couple who came to know each other have on consent of each other enjoyed sexual pleasure several times at the young man's 'loku amma's' house.

Subsequently conflicts and misunderstandings have flared up between the couple and when when difference of opinions have aggravated, the young girl has exposed matters of sexual abuse to her parents and as a result the girl's parents have sought assistance of the law. The youth's 'loku amma' was taken into custody for the offence of aiding and abetting a minor's case of rape and was released on bail after being produced before court.

The underaged girl who was subjected to sexual abuse by the driver-boy was produced before Mahara Court by Colombo Child and Women Bureau on 29th and Magistrate Mr. Heshantha de Mel ordered two sureties of Rs. 2 lakhs and bail of cash bonds to the value of Rs. 2000. The magistrate also ordered that the accused put down his signature by presenting himself to Colombo Child and Women's Bureau on the last Sunday of every month and foreign travel too was cancelled in the process with the passport being handed over to court. Attorney-at-Law Mr. Sudarshana Wickremaratna appeared on behalf of the respondent.

- Kusum S. Hennadi -