Tooth Powder Represented as Heroin to the Court -True Prisons Part 08

by Harshi C. Perera

(November 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Violet De Silva is a 58 year-old woman. She has been held in the women’s ward at Welikada prison for more than nine months. She was married but her husband died 20 years ago.

Violet sold vegetables at the Balake Kade junction. One day she set out to find a room to hire. When she was crossing the road, her vegetable cart collided with a trishaw. In that trishaw were three policemen in civilian clothes.

One policeman got out of the trishaw, slapped Violet and yelled at her, “where were you going old woman!” Violent responded only by saying that she had a son that was about the same age as the officer. All three policemen were drunk and accused her speaking filth.

The officers called for a police jeep and put Violet inside. She was taken to the Angulana checkpoint where she was searched, inside the jeep without any curtains and in a questionable manner.

Then Violet was brought to the Mount Lavinia police station. On the way, one of the policemen bought a tooth powder packet from a shop. At the police station the policemen marked this tooth powder packet as 18mg of heroin and took her thumb mark to it.

Violet wants to plead innocence, but there is no family or money to afford a lawyer to help her.