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Dial M for murder
Calls from mobile phone solve Hamer massacre mystery
By Chris Kamalendran
Four calls taken from a mobile phone provided the vital clues that led to the arrest of two key suspects in the Dehiwela triple murder case that shocked the nation last month.

The killers had used the mobile phone of 33-year-old Dieter Hamer, the second to be killed on the fateful night of May 7, to contact the man who gave the contract. Although the killers executed their task with much ease, they made a vital blunder. They accidentally left behind the mobile phone they used and got away with another phone they found at the Hamer residence.

This enabled the police to trace the calls and arrest two suspects -- one of the alleged killers and the man who allegedly gave the contract to kill the Hamers. The other alleged killer is evading arrest, but police said they were closing in on him.

The suspected killer has been identified as D. K. Mahendran alias Siva. The man who allegedly gave the contract has been identified as Harrison Jayaweera, the man who owns the Chinese restaurant adjoining the house the Hamers occupied. The two suspects were produced before Mount Lavinia magistrate Mohamed Mackie and remanded till June 27.

According to investigations being led by Dehiwela Crimes OIC Keerthi Ranaweera, the two killers had visited the Hamer residence at Frazer Avenue, Dehiwela shortly after dusk on May 7 and asked for water from 78-year-old Franklyn Hamer, who was alone in the house.

The two men then tried to enter into a conversation with Mr. Hamer who began to suspect the motive of the visitors when they sought a copy of the deed of the Hamer property. The killers claimed that they were planning to file a case against the Chinese restaurant owner.

The first killing
When Mr. Hamer tried to end the conversation and get back to his house, the killers tried to enter the house forcefully. Mr. Hamer resisted the move and even took the cross-bar of the door to warn them not to come in.

Soon he was overpowered and one of the killers had used the same bar to beat Mr. Hamer on the head, killing him almost instantly. That was around 6.45 p.m. The two men had carried the body and dumped it under a bed inside a room and washed the blood stains on the verandah. Inspector Ranaweera said the killers had then locked all the doors from inside and begun their search for the deed.

Dieter arrives
An hour later, Mr. Hamer's son, Dieter arrived and found the doors locked. He, however, made his way into the house through a window.

As he entered the house, the killers who were waiting for him pounced on him and dealt him a blow. The killers demanded the deed from him but Deiter knew nothing about it and had said it must be with his father, whose fate he was unaware of.

The killers then stabbed him and tied him to a bed and continued their search for the deed. Dieter who had gained consciousness had managed to untie himself and entered the bathroom attached to the room to wash his face. Hearing the sounds of the tap water, the two killers returned to the room and stabbed him to death.

Daisy the third victim
The killers continued their search. Around 8. 30 p.m. Mr. Hamer's daughter, Daisy Anne, 29, returned home. She tapped on the door and called out to her father, but there was no response. She tried to open a side door with a key she had. That door too had been latched from inside.

When Daisy returned to the main door the killers opened the door and dragged her in. They demanded the deed from the frightened girl. After two hours of search and terror tactics killers used on the girl, the deed was found in Daisy's room. Thinking that her nightmare was over, the girl then demanded to know what had happened to her father and brother. She was told that they were gagged and safe in an adjoining room.

Daisy told the killers that she was hungry. The killers then allowed her to eat two slices of bread. She then prepared coffee and offered it to the two men, not knowing that in a few minutes she would be their third victim.

While having coffee, Daisy recognised one of the killers, Siva, as a man who had worked in the adjoining restaurant and casually asked whether it was him. The answer she got was several stabs. It was 30 minutes past midnight and there were three bodies in the Hamer residence.

Inspector Ranaweera said the main suspect had confessed that they had stayed there for three more hours before getting away with some gold jewellery, a wristwatch of Dieter worth Rs. 45,000, some new clothes and a television set.

The killers had then left the house and got into a Pettah-bound bus with the items they removed. Police have recovered the knife used in the killings. The killers had got it made by a blacksmith in Meerigama where the main suspect lived.

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