Taken for a deadly ride
By Nalaka Nonis and Santhush Fernando
A fatal accident that involved a politician and killed a woman has been shrouded in mystery, with claims, counter claims and a probable fall-guy entering the fray.
The statement by UNF Polonnaruwa district parliamentarian Sydney Jayaratne, who was himself injured in last Sunday's accident that killed a 40-year-old lady, has been contradicted by eye witnesses and others including the dead woman's husband.
According to the politico’s statement to Habarana police, he had given a lift to the victim while she was waiting at the Minneriya-Colombo bus stand.

He said he was on his way for a meeting in Kurunegala when he had stopped and offered a lift to the lady upto Dambulla once he realised that the bus she was travelling in, to Kandy had broken down. He said he didn't know the woman's name and all he had was a nodding acquaintance. Police said they had checked with the private bus driver who had confirmed that the bus had broken down.

The MP had further said that his driver Samarakoon Chandrasekera had driven the ill fated vehicle for some time but had handed over the wheel to him saying he was sleepy and had gone to the back to take a short nap. The most glaring contradiction in the MPs statement was regarding his relationship with the victim. Although he had told police that his acquaintance with her was just a nodding one, her husband said the two had known each other quite well.

“She worked as an assistant librarian at the Medirigiriya Pradeshiya Sabha library for about 15 years and Mr. Jayaratne was a former Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman. I am sure he would have known her on an official level and I personally know that the MP knew my wife. Even I know him," the husband said.

The other question that arises is whether Samarakoon Chandrasekera was ever in the ill-fated cab that belonged to the Agrarian Services Department. According to Inspector Vipula Tennakoon of Habarana police Mr. Jayaratne had claimed in his statement that there was a third person in the vehicle and his name was S.M. Chandrasekara.

But what is strange is that Chandrasekara had come out unscathed, from an accident that left the vehicle a total wreck. Eye witnesses however told The Sunday Times that only the MP and the lady were in the vehicle.

"We were the ones who rushed to the scene and helped Mr. Jayaratne get the injured woman to hospital.There was nobody else in the vehicle," one eye witness said.
Another said that when he and others got to the scene of the crash, the vehicle had overturned and Mr. Jayaratne and the lady were struggling to get out of it. The vehicle had crashed into a wall of a hotel damaging it and also broken 15 crates of soft drink bottles in a nearby shop.

Police said that Mr. Chandrasekera had come to the police station and made a statement corroborating his presence at the time of the accident. But police told The Sunday Times that it was unbelievable that a person had come out unscathed from a vehicle that had been smashed so badly.

The other contradiction is regarding the breakdown of the private bus in which the victim was travelling to Kandy. Police said that according to the MPs statement the woman had got in because the bus she was travelling in had broken down. But Sarath Perera an ex naval officer who travelled in the same bus contradicted this statement. "There wasn't any breakdown. From Medirigiriya all the way upto Kandy the bus travelled smoothly without any trouble," he said. (See separate story)
Police also said they had recovered a bus ticket for rupees twelve from the victim’s bag. With this ticket she could have travelled only upto Hingurakgoda. But when she had left home she had told her husband that she was going to Kandy.

According to other eyewitnesses in the bus, the lady had got down from the bus near the clock tower in Hingurakgoda. But according to Mr. Jayaratne's statement he had given a lift to the woman when she was at the Minneriya-Colombo bus stand, five kilometres away from the clock tower. Police believe the crash was the outcome of high speed driving. But the MP had told police the vehicle had gone off the road because the left tyre of the vehicle had got stuck.

Police said they had been unable to conduct a breathalyser test on Mr. Jayaratne because he had been hospitalised immediately after the accident. They said a report containing all the details about the case will be submitted to the Attorney General who in turn will file a plaint against the suspect. Mr. Jayaratne who was produced before the Colombo Magistrate last Wednesday was released on bail.
When The Sunday Times attempted to speak to Mr. Jayaratne at the National Hospital he declined to comment.

There was no breakdown
Sarath Perera the ex naval officer who travelled together with the victim of this accident says that she got down near the clock tower at Hingurakgoda.
He said that he got into the private bus, Shanthi Travels at Diyasenpura.
"I saw her in the bus. I have known her and her husband for sometime. She was seated a few rows in front of me. And later she offered her seat to a mother who was carrying a child", Sarath Perera told The Sunday Times.

He said when she gave her seat she had come up to him and asked him to keep her handbag. He also said she got down at the Hingurakgoda clock tower at about 4 a.m. "When we were nearing the clock tower, she asked for her handbag.When I asked her why she was getting down, she said two of her friends were waiting there for her to go for an interview,” the ex naval officer said. He also said that at no time did the bus break down.

She was in a hurry to get to Kandy
The husband of the dead lady, a carpenter by profession, told The Sunday Times, he smelt foul play regarding his wife's death and pleaded for an impartial police inquiry.
He charged that the family was in the dark regarding the progress of the police investigations and that the whole thing was being conducted in a strange manner.
He said during his 20-year relationship with his wife he never had any suspicion about her and they led a happy married life.

Explaining the events of that fateful day, he said his wife had boarded a private bus at the Medirigiriya junction at about 3.30 a.m. to travel to Kandy to attend a class.
"She travels to Kandy every Sunday to attend classes. Normally she leaves at about 3 a.m. But on that day she got up a bit late and left at about 3.30 a.m. She also said she had to be at the class sharp at 8 a.m. otherwise she would be sent out," he said.
He said since recently his wife used to travel to Kandy on Saturdays and stay at her brother's home and attend classes on Sunday morning. But last Saturday (December 6) she had been unwell and had decided to travel to Kandy on Sunday.

"She never told me that she would be getting down on the way. In fact she was in a hurry to get to Kandy. I still can't believe how the woman I put into a bus at Medirigiriya got into the MPs vehicle," lamented the husband. He said he knew that his wife and the MP had known each other for a long time and he never noticed anything strange in their relationship.

According to other family members, at the time of the tragedy the lady had in her posession Rs. 10,000, a couple of rings and a bracelet. But after the accident only the rings were found on her. The victim was the mother of two sons aged 16 and 12 years.

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