(July 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There are two main access roads from Aluthgama to Matugama. Besides these two roads there is yet another road through Kalawila-Navathtuduwa. As this road was poorly maintained it was seldom used by vehicular traffic. There were also a few houses distantly placed between one another.
On May 16, 1966, Saturday some schoolchildren were to go on a picnic. A few of them left their houses around 6.00 a.m. to go to their school where a private bus was waiting for them. On their way to school whilst passing a lonely stretch of the road they saw the dead body of a woman by the side of the road. The frightened children ran to the closest house which was about 100 yards away and informed the inmates. The chief occupant of the house who went to see the body informed the gramasevaka who in turn informed the Aluthgama Police.
As OIC Aluthgama, I proceeded to the scene with sergeant Ariyadasa and PC Tilakaratne. The body was found by the side of a gravel road. The closest house was about 140 yards away. The body was that of a woman dressed in a light blue coloured saree and a white dotted pink blouse.
The body was lying face upwards with the feet pointed north. The place where the body lay was overgrown with grass and weeds. About one square foot around the head was completely burnt. A partially burnt gunny bag covered the dead woman’s face. An empty one gallon tin was found a few feet away from the body. The empty tin smelt, strongly of petrol and was taken as a production.
I placed the sergeant and PC at the scene and returned to the Aluthgama Police Station. I gave a telephone massage to the office of the Registrar of Fingerprints to send two officers to the scene of the murder. I also requested the magistrate to send a judicial officer to hold an inquest at the scene of murder.
In the fore noon Vernon Fernando JPUM visited the scene, held the inquest and ordered the dead body to be taken to the Base Hospital (mortuary), Kalutara. He ordered the JMO Kalutara to hold the post mortem examination on the body of the unknown woman. The Registrar of Fingerprints who visited the scene traced three fingerprints on the empty tin of petrol.
Post mortem
The next morning the JMO Dr. B. C. Perera held the post mortem examination and reported as follows.” I held the P.M. examination on an unidentified woman at the Base Hospital Mortuary, Kalutara. She was between 24 to 28 years of age, height 5 feet 2 inches with a very long head of hair, leanly built, fair complexion. She was not a virgin at the time of death and was in a very early stage of pregnancy.
The front of the face was burnt beyond recognition. This was caused after her death. Cause of death had been as a result of firing two shots with a .22 revolver at very close range. Both bullets had gone through the head smashing the brain. Death had been instantaneous.”
On the face of this report a case of homicide was given. Discreet inquiries were made but no information was forthcoming.
On the 20 morning whilst I was going through the ‘Daily Information Sheet’ received from Police HQ I found details of a woman of the same age as the deceased, had gone missing from the Ingiriya Police area. I contacted OIC Ingiriya and he directed the party to appear at the Aluthgama Police station that very afternoon.
The party consisted of the mother of the deceased, her boarding mistress and a male cousin. The party was sent to the Kalutara Hospital mortuary with PC Tilakaratne. The party identified the dead body as Devasurendra Padmini Somalata, a dancing teacher at a leading school in Horana.
I recorded the statement of the mother of the deceased Mahagama Acharige Podina. She stated that the deceased was her daughter and that she taught dancing at a school in Horana. She was boarded at a relations house in Ingiriya. In 1962, she was awarded a scholarship to train as a dancing teacher in India. She returned from India after two years and was appointed a dancing teacher.
According to Podina her daughter was well behaved and had no lovers but her music teacher was interested in her but the parents refused to consent to the marriage as he was 20 years older than her.
The statement of the boarding mistress Kalyani Devendra who was a distant relative of the deceased was recorded. She stated that Padmini was boarded at her house for the last eight months. On Friday the 15, she left the house around 6.30 a.m. to go to school. Before she left she informed the boarding mistress that she was going to Kuruwita to her mother’s house after school and would be back on Monday. She never returned.
The next morning the JMO Dr. B. C. Perera held the post mortem examination and reported as follows.” I held the P.M. examination on an unidentified woman at the Base Hospital Mortuary, Kalutara. She was between 24 to 28 years of age, height 5 feet 2 inches with a very long head of hair, leanly built, fair complexion. She was not a virgin at the time of death and was in a very early stage of pregnancy.
The front of the face was burnt beyond recognition. This was caused after her death. Cause of death had been as a result of firing two shots with a .22 revolver at very close range. Both bullets had gone through the head smashing the brain. Death had been instantaneous.”
On the face of this report a case of homicide was given. Discreet inquiries were made but no information was forthcoming.
On the 20 morning whilst I was going through the ‘Daily Information Sheet’ received from Police HQ I found details of a woman of the same age as the deceased, had gone missing from the Ingiriya Police area. I contacted OIC Ingiriya and he directed the party to appear at the Aluthgama Police station that very afternoon.
The party consisted of the mother of the deceased, her boarding mistress and a male cousin. The party was sent to the Kalutara Hospital mortuary with PC Tilakaratne. The party identified the dead body as Devasurendra Padmini Somalata, a dancing teacher at a leading school in Horana.
I recorded the statement of the mother of the deceased Mahagama Acharige Podina. She stated that the deceased was her daughter and that she taught dancing at a school in Horana. She was boarded at a relations house in Ingiriya. In 1962, she was awarded a scholarship to train as a dancing teacher in India. She returned from India after two years and was appointed a dancing teacher.
According to Podina her daughter was well behaved and had no lovers but her music teacher was interested in her but the parents refused to consent to the marriage as he was 20 years older than her.
The statement of the boarding mistress Kalyani Devendra who was a distant relative of the deceased was recorded. She stated that Padmini was boarded at her house for the last eight months. On Friday the 15, she left the house around 6.30 a.m. to go to school. Before she left she informed the boarding mistress that she was going to Kuruwita to her mother’s house after school and would be back on Monday. She never returned.
Body
The body of Padmini was not removed to her ancestral home in Kuruwita as decomposition had set in and was buried at the general cemetery at Nagoda in Kalutara.
Three weeks after the murder I received an anonymous petition by post which stated that the deceased woman was seen at the Mahagama circuit bungalow in the company of a man on the afternoon of the May 15.
On receipt of this letter, I contacted OIC Bulathsinhala Inspector Frank Senanayake and on the following day both of us went to the circuit bungalow which is situated on the Matugama Bulathsinhala road about seven miles from Matugama. This bungalow was Government run under the G.A. Kalutara. It had been opened in 1937 for Government servants en route on official duties and provided meals and accommodation.
The bungalow keeper was Siyadoris of Katana. Besides him there was Wilbert Mendis a young lad employed as a cook cum room boy. As the income from this circuit bungalow was limited the GA Kalutara had permitted accommodation for outsiders when there were no bookings from Government servants. The bungalow keeper was instructed to charge 50 percent more from outsiders.
The statement of Siyadoris was recorded. He stated that in the afternoon of May 15, around 12.15 p.m. Kelum Mahipala a music teacher known to him came to the bungalow with his wife in his Ford Anglia car 4 SRI 4323. They had a late lunch and early dinner and left around 8.00 p.m. the same day. According to him this couple had come to the bungalow 4 or 5 times earlier as well.
The bill for the room was Rs. 20 and both meals had cost them Rs. 37. Mahipala had given Siyadoris one of his cheques for Rs. 100. When Siyadoris returned the balance Rs. 43 Mahipala gave him a tip of Rs. 3. I perused the cheque leaf. It was a Bank of Ceylon cheque bearing No. 2770 of account number 1780. I did not take charge of the cheque and asked Siyadoris to bank it.
The body of Padmini was not removed to her ancestral home in Kuruwita as decomposition had set in and was buried at the general cemetery at Nagoda in Kalutara.
Three weeks after the murder I received an anonymous petition by post which stated that the deceased woman was seen at the Mahagama circuit bungalow in the company of a man on the afternoon of the May 15.
On receipt of this letter, I contacted OIC Bulathsinhala Inspector Frank Senanayake and on the following day both of us went to the circuit bungalow which is situated on the Matugama Bulathsinhala road about seven miles from Matugama. This bungalow was Government run under the G.A. Kalutara. It had been opened in 1937 for Government servants en route on official duties and provided meals and accommodation.
The bungalow keeper was Siyadoris of Katana. Besides him there was Wilbert Mendis a young lad employed as a cook cum room boy. As the income from this circuit bungalow was limited the GA Kalutara had permitted accommodation for outsiders when there were no bookings from Government servants. The bungalow keeper was instructed to charge 50 percent more from outsiders.
The statement of Siyadoris was recorded. He stated that in the afternoon of May 15, around 12.15 p.m. Kelum Mahipala a music teacher known to him came to the bungalow with his wife in his Ford Anglia car 4 SRI 4323. They had a late lunch and early dinner and left around 8.00 p.m. the same day. According to him this couple had come to the bungalow 4 or 5 times earlier as well.
The bill for the room was Rs. 20 and both meals had cost them Rs. 37. Mahipala had given Siyadoris one of his cheques for Rs. 100. When Siyadoris returned the balance Rs. 43 Mahipala gave him a tip of Rs. 3. I perused the cheque leaf. It was a Bank of Ceylon cheque bearing No. 2770 of account number 1780. I did not take charge of the cheque and asked Siyadoris to bank it.
Sobbing and Crying
I recorded the statement of Wilbert Mendis too. He stated that he took lunch and dinner to the room the couple occupied and on both occasions the lady was crying. He also said that when he was outside the room he heard the woman sobbing and crying and he told his boss Siyadoris that the couple had been fighting in the room.
Both the lunch and dinner plates served to the woman were left more or less untouched. The guest register maintained at the bungalow stated that a Mr. and Mrs. Mahipala had booked a room on May 15, 1966 at 12.15 p.m. and left at 8.05 p.m. I reported the facts to courts and through courts obtained the particulars of the Bank of Ceylon Account No. 1780. The account holder was Kapuge Kelum Mahipala. I also collected the relevant cheque leaf given to Siyadoris.
The account holder had signed on the face of the cheque whilst Siyadoris Appuhamy had written his name and signed on the reverse of the cheque. The cheque was dated 15.05.1966 and was to the value of Rs. 100. I took charge of the cheque leaf from the bank as a production in the case.
Inquiries made revealed that Mahipala was a music demonstrator at the Teachers Training School. He was a flamboyant character who possessed a licensed gun and was fond of hunting. He was at resident of 28, Gangabada Road, Kalutara and a native of Thebuwana.
I sent sergeant Ariyadasa to the Kalutara kachcheri to check the gun licence register. It was ascertained that G.A. Kalutara had issued a permit for a 16 bore breach loading single barrel gun in the year 1951 to Kelum Mahipala. Sergeant Ariyadasa removed the applicants fingerprint form from the file maintained at the Kachcheri and the office assistant’s statement to this effect was recorded by him.
I sent the fingerprint form of Kelum Mahipala to the Registrar of Fingerprints and requests that a comparison be made with the fingerprints found on the empty petrol tin found at the scene of the murder at Aluthgama on May 16, 1966. Two days later the office of the Registrar of Fingerprints confirmed that the fingerprints on the gun licence form and those on the empty petrol tin found at the scene of the murder were identical.
I recorded the statement of Wilbert Mendis too. He stated that he took lunch and dinner to the room the couple occupied and on both occasions the lady was crying. He also said that when he was outside the room he heard the woman sobbing and crying and he told his boss Siyadoris that the couple had been fighting in the room.
Both the lunch and dinner plates served to the woman were left more or less untouched. The guest register maintained at the bungalow stated that a Mr. and Mrs. Mahipala had booked a room on May 15, 1966 at 12.15 p.m. and left at 8.05 p.m. I reported the facts to courts and through courts obtained the particulars of the Bank of Ceylon Account No. 1780. The account holder was Kapuge Kelum Mahipala. I also collected the relevant cheque leaf given to Siyadoris.
The account holder had signed on the face of the cheque whilst Siyadoris Appuhamy had written his name and signed on the reverse of the cheque. The cheque was dated 15.05.1966 and was to the value of Rs. 100. I took charge of the cheque leaf from the bank as a production in the case.
Inquiries made revealed that Mahipala was a music demonstrator at the Teachers Training School. He was a flamboyant character who possessed a licensed gun and was fond of hunting. He was at resident of 28, Gangabada Road, Kalutara and a native of Thebuwana.
I sent sergeant Ariyadasa to the Kalutara kachcheri to check the gun licence register. It was ascertained that G.A. Kalutara had issued a permit for a 16 bore breach loading single barrel gun in the year 1951 to Kelum Mahipala. Sergeant Ariyadasa removed the applicants fingerprint form from the file maintained at the Kachcheri and the office assistant’s statement to this effect was recorded by him.
I sent the fingerprint form of Kelum Mahipala to the Registrar of Fingerprints and requests that a comparison be made with the fingerprints found on the empty petrol tin found at the scene of the murder at Aluthgama on May 16, 1966. Two days later the office of the Registrar of Fingerprints confirmed that the fingerprints on the gun licence form and those on the empty petrol tin found at the scene of the murder were identical.
Regret
I went to the house of the accused Mahipala. He was present. When I explained the charge against him he categorically said that he was innocent and that I was making a mistake that I would have to regret later as he would sue me.
At the police station I interrogated him in detail. He was a hard nut to crack. He denied having an account in any bank. When I produced the cheque leaf he had given to Siyadoris he refused to admit it. However when I showed him his signature and Siyadoris’ signature he broke down. He made a lengthy statement and admitted that it was his cheque but that he had never visited the circuit bungalow with a woman.
I produced the accused Mahipala in Magistrate Courts Kalutara and got him remanded to fiscal custody for 12 days. On the 12th day I filed plaint against the accused under section 296 CPC for the murder of Devasundara Padmini Somalata of Kuruwita.
After a lengthy non-summary proceedings the Magistrate Kalutara committed the case to be heard in the Supreme Courts Kalutara.
Exactly one year and two months later the case was taken up in the Azize Courts Kalutara before on English speaking jury. The case was prosecuted by a senior crown counsel.
The first witness called was Dr. B.C. Perera JMO Kalutara. In his evidence Dr. Perera stated that two shots had been fired into the temple of the deceased woman which had penetrated the head and damaged the brain.
Both shots were necessarily fatal and death had been instantaneous. Siyadoris Appuhamy also gave evidence. He stated that he was in charge of the circuit bungalow and on May 15, 1966 around 12.15 p.m., the music master Mahipala who is know to him for the last four years and had visited the bungalow with his wife two or three times earlier arrived with his wife.
They had a late lunch, relaxed in the room for about eight hours had an early dinner and left around 8.30 p.m. He added that both husband and wife had quarrelled in the room. The bill totalled Rs. 57 and Mahipala paid this amount by a Bank of Ceylon cheque.
He identified the cheque with his signature and also the endorsement made by Mahipala in the visitors book maintained at the circuit bungalow.
The third witness was Wilbert Mendis. He corroborated Siyadoris’ evidence and stated that the woman was found crying every time he entered the room with meals.
The fourth witness called for the prosecution was the office Assistant of the Kalutara Kachcheri. He told the Court that the accused had been issued a gun permit by the Kachcheri and that the police took away the fingerprint slip of the accused that was attached to the gun application file maintained by the Kachcheri.
I went to the house of the accused Mahipala. He was present. When I explained the charge against him he categorically said that he was innocent and that I was making a mistake that I would have to regret later as he would sue me.
At the police station I interrogated him in detail. He was a hard nut to crack. He denied having an account in any bank. When I produced the cheque leaf he had given to Siyadoris he refused to admit it. However when I showed him his signature and Siyadoris’ signature he broke down. He made a lengthy statement and admitted that it was his cheque but that he had never visited the circuit bungalow with a woman.
I produced the accused Mahipala in Magistrate Courts Kalutara and got him remanded to fiscal custody for 12 days. On the 12th day I filed plaint against the accused under section 296 CPC for the murder of Devasundara Padmini Somalata of Kuruwita.
After a lengthy non-summary proceedings the Magistrate Kalutara committed the case to be heard in the Supreme Courts Kalutara.
Exactly one year and two months later the case was taken up in the Azize Courts Kalutara before on English speaking jury. The case was prosecuted by a senior crown counsel.
The first witness called was Dr. B.C. Perera JMO Kalutara. In his evidence Dr. Perera stated that two shots had been fired into the temple of the deceased woman which had penetrated the head and damaged the brain.
Both shots were necessarily fatal and death had been instantaneous. Siyadoris Appuhamy also gave evidence. He stated that he was in charge of the circuit bungalow and on May 15, 1966 around 12.15 p.m., the music master Mahipala who is know to him for the last four years and had visited the bungalow with his wife two or three times earlier arrived with his wife.
They had a late lunch, relaxed in the room for about eight hours had an early dinner and left around 8.30 p.m. He added that both husband and wife had quarrelled in the room. The bill totalled Rs. 57 and Mahipala paid this amount by a Bank of Ceylon cheque.
He identified the cheque with his signature and also the endorsement made by Mahipala in the visitors book maintained at the circuit bungalow.
The third witness was Wilbert Mendis. He corroborated Siyadoris’ evidence and stated that the woman was found crying every time he entered the room with meals.
The fourth witness called for the prosecution was the office Assistant of the Kalutara Kachcheri. He told the Court that the accused had been issued a gun permit by the Kachcheri and that the police took away the fingerprint slip of the accused that was attached to the gun application file maintained by the Kachcheri.
Verdict
The Registrar of Fingerprints in his evidence stated that the three prints obtained from the empty petrol tin found at the scene of the murder on 16.05.1966 were compared with the fingerprints of the accused obtained from the gun licence file and were found to be identical.
The Assistant Manager Administration of the Bank of Ceylon head office also gave evidence. He stated that the Bank of Ceylon cheque book containing cheque leaves numbered 2776 to 2800 of account number 1780 had been issued to Kapuge Kelum Mahipala of No. 28, Gangabada Road, Kalutara North and stated that the signature appearing on the relevant cheque leaf is very similar to Mahiapala’s signature maintained at the bank’s head office.
The last witness to be called was yours truly and with my evidence state counsel closed the case for the prosecution.
The defence did not call the accused to give evidence from the witness box as it empowers the prosecution to cross-examine him. But the defence got the accused to give evidence from the accused’s box. His Lordship the Judge ordered the jury to retire and come back after arriving at a verdict.
Forty minutes elapsed before the jury returned. The chairman of the jury informed court that they unanimously found the accused guilty of murder.
The Judge sentenced the accused to be hanged in the precincts of the Welikada Jail till he was dead.
The accused appealed against the sentence but a bench of three judges in the court of appeal disallowed the application.
Names of the accused and victim are fictitious. All other names are true.
The Registrar of Fingerprints in his evidence stated that the three prints obtained from the empty petrol tin found at the scene of the murder on 16.05.1966 were compared with the fingerprints of the accused obtained from the gun licence file and were found to be identical.
The Assistant Manager Administration of the Bank of Ceylon head office also gave evidence. He stated that the Bank of Ceylon cheque book containing cheque leaves numbered 2776 to 2800 of account number 1780 had been issued to Kapuge Kelum Mahipala of No. 28, Gangabada Road, Kalutara North and stated that the signature appearing on the relevant cheque leaf is very similar to Mahiapala’s signature maintained at the bank’s head office.
The last witness to be called was yours truly and with my evidence state counsel closed the case for the prosecution.
The defence did not call the accused to give evidence from the witness box as it empowers the prosecution to cross-examine him. But the defence got the accused to give evidence from the accused’s box. His Lordship the Judge ordered the jury to retire and come back after arriving at a verdict.
Forty minutes elapsed before the jury returned. The chairman of the jury informed court that they unanimously found the accused guilty of murder.
The Judge sentenced the accused to be hanged in the precincts of the Welikada Jail till he was dead.
The accused appealed against the sentence but a bench of three judges in the court of appeal disallowed the application.
Names of the accused and victim are fictitious. All other names are true.
SO was he hung and dead?
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