| The story hit headlines in both print and electronic media and viewers watched with shock and relief as TV footage showed Amila Sandaruwan being rescued from drowning by a brave young man. He jumped into the Kalu Ganga to save a young life, after the little boy’s mother had reportedly thrown him into the waters.
Tragically, Amila who was in a critical condition for the past week, at the Intensive Care Unit at the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo, having sustained serious injuries following the fall, breathed his last yesterday.
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| The scene of the tragedy. |
It was a warm Thursday morning, March 11, perfect conditions to doze off for a while. A young mother of five was walking to and fro on the plank built for pedestrians, running alongside the Kalutara railway bridge, with her two-and-a-half year old son, Amila, who was slowly but surely nodding off in her arms.
No one saw what happened next, and no one knows what made her do it, but she did it – she threw her child into the green blue waters of the Kalu Ganga below. She then took a bus home to Panadura.
What prompted a mother to do this to her own child, she had cared for over two years we may never know.
The Sunday Times spoke to several officials and neighbours who knew the family.
Muthutantrige Nalani Kure is a middle-aged neighbour of Manel’s. She was a close acquaintance of the family and they all lived in the flats known as “tsunami flats” at Modarawila, Panadura. A crowd gathered around when The Sunday Times visited Nalani’s home on Friday.
According to Nalani, the family lived on the beach in Uyankale, Panadura, but after the December 2004 tsunami, they were relocated to the flats in Modarawila. Amila’s father, Suranga Fernando was a lottery ticket vendor. The little money he made selling sweep tickets was all he had to provide his wife and five children food and clothing.
“They are beautiful, innocent children. The problems started after Manel too started selling lottery tickets six months ago,” Nalani claimed. It was then that quarrels erupted between husband and wife. owever, they claim Manel showed no signs of mental instability.
Officials who knew Manel from the days she was pregnant with Amila but who wished to remain anonymous, told the Sunday Times that Manel was fond of all of her children equally. When one of them had asked Manel why she wanted to have so many children, she had reportedly said a child’s worth is seen only when he/she grows up.
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| IP Malka
Thushari |
Meanwhile, Women and Children’s Bureau head of the Kalutara Division, inspector Malka Thushari recounted to the Sunday Times how her team traced Manel to the Panadura Police Station on Saturday, March 13, two days after the incident.
Thushari said they had tracked her down to the Panadura Police Station where on being alerted by a call on 119, she had been brought to the Panadura Police station around 6 in the morning and being kept there. Inspector Thushari said, following a discussion with the Panadura Police, they had arrested her at the station itself.
The team from Kalutara had then taken Manel to several day-care centers where she had claimed Amila was staying. But Amila obviously could not be found in any of them, he was battling for his life at Colombo’s Lady Ridgeway Hospital. Eventually Thushari said she had been able to gain Manel’s confidence and she had reportedly confessed to her.
“I will tell you the truth. It was I who threw the child into the water. I have five children. He is the youngest. There is noone to look after me,” Manel had reportedly told inspector Thushari.
She had then agreed to take the police team to the spot where she had thrown Amila into the water.
“When we took her there, angry onlookers tried to attack her, but we averted such an incident,” Thushari said.
Manel is now in remand while the three daughters are at the Visaka Lama Niwasaya in Kalutara and the eldest, a boy is at an orphanage in Payagala.
“A Canadian NGO has agreed to take care of the children with the help of a caretaker,” said IP Thushari.
Suranga, the father was not available for comment, but according to Inspector Thushari, he too has claimed he loved the children.
Immediate first aid a must
Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital Senior Registrar Pradeep Gamage said following the incident Amila's brain had stopped receiving Oxygen and a lack of immediate proper first aid and Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) had caused his condition to worsen.
"We didn't have high expectations regarding his survival. What we must learn from this is that people should be better educated about administering CPR and proper first aid so that such an unfotunate incident won't occur again," he stressed.
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