Death for the constable boyfriend who killed the constable girlfriend

Colombo High Court Judge Rashmi Singappuli sentenced a police constable, who was found guilty of brutally murdering his young girlfriend, also a police constable, by slitting her throat, to death. The judge pronounced this sentence after determining that the charges filed by the prosecution against the accused had been proven beyond reasonable doubt, and considering the more than forty-seven severe cut wounds found on the victim's body, the murder was carried out by the accused in a highly planned and deliberate manner.

However, the judge also issued an open warrant for the immediate arrest of this accused, who has been evading court and absconding for several years after giving evidence before the court during the trial.

This brutal murder was committed about twelve years ago, specifically on January 07, 2013, around 7:00 AM, on the flyover in front of Sri Lanka Telecom on Lotus Road, Pettah, Colombo, by the accused named Jayasinghe Mudiyanselage Nilatha Pushpa Kumara. The accused, who knew in advance that the 23-year-old victim, Herath Mudiyanselage Nadishani Madhubhashika Samarasinghe, who was then attached to a police station in the Colombo area, would be crossing this bridge for duty, lay in wait there and initiated an argument when she arrived. Eyewitness accounts confirmed that he then used a machete he had concealed to sever her neck, assaulted multiple parts of her body including her chest and face, cutting her body into pieces, poured some of the poison bottle he brought into her mouth, drank the rest himself, and at that moment, threatened bystanders with the knife not to approach.

It was revealed that a romantic relationship had developed between them while they were training together at the Police Training College and serving at the Koslanda Police in 2009, and with the blessing of both families, they had even purchased a 43-perch land in the Bibile area with the intention of marriage. However, it was revealed during the trial that later, due to incompatibility in their horoscopes and the accused's undesirable character, the victim's mother had objected to the marriage, and the enraged accused had gone to her house a few days before the murder with a machete and a bottle of poison, and had exerted some pressure on the mother. Although the accused claimed that he did meet her on the flyover, and that he was distressed by what she said there, leading him to attempt suicide by drinking poison, and that he did not know how she was murdered, the judge stated in the verdict that this was fabricated with the intention of escaping punishment.

During the trial, it was revealed that the victim, who grew up in a very difficult family background, was academically talented but had set aside her dream of university to join the police service to support her mother and two younger siblings pursuing higher education, taking on the burden of a fatherless family. It was also revealed that prior to this, she had even done manual labor such as brick-cutting to alleviate the family's hunger. Attorney Pradeep Jayakody, appearing for the aggrieved party, pointed out to the court that the Fort Police, which conducted the initial investigations, failed to take proper steps to obtain a travel ban when granting bail to the accused, thereby allowing him to evade court and abscond.