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Journalist Lakmal Sampath De Silva was not only dedicated to his profession, he was also a pillar of support to his family

"You don’t know the value of a journalist, mother, since you are a teacher. I can go a long way in the field of journalism, so please don’t stop me, but help me and encourage me instead.’ This is what my son always used to tell me,” said the grieving mother of slain journalist Lakmal Sampath De Silva. Lakmal, 23, was brutally killed on July 1, and his body found on a street in Dehiwela.

“That day he walked into the house in a very cheerful mood at around 9 p.m. While he was watching the news, he received a call on his mobile, and said he needed to go out immediately on an important assignment, and that he had been asked to come to the Boralesgamuwa junction,” said Lakmal’s mother, 56-year-old S. M. Rupa De Silva.

“When he was leaving the house, he came to worship me, and then he told us to sleep, because he might get late to come. But I cleaned his bedroom, and even changed his bedsheet for him to sleep after he returned, since I thought he would be very tired,” she explained.

Lakmal’s mother expected her son to return, but he didn’t come home that night. Indeed Lakmal never came back. Instead, the following morning, Rupa was asked to come to the Dehiwala Police Station, only to be told that she had lost her son, forever. Lakmal’s bullet-riddled body was found at Jayawardene Place in Dehiwala.

The family has faced tragedy and sorrow before. Lakmal’s father had died in 1984 in the Maradana bomb blast, when Lakmal was just five years old. Since then it was Rupa who brought up the two children, Lakmal and his sister, now 21, with much difficulty.

“He protected my daughter and me after the death of my husband. I didn’t let them feel the loss of a father, but tried as much as possible to give them everything to the best of my ability from the salary I earned by teaching. Sometimes when he had to go on assignments, when he did not get transport, I made it a point to give him money to hire a cab. I always tried to prepare a good meal for him to eat after he came home from work, and recently when I told him that dinner is ready, he refused to eat, saying that he would eat only if I fed him,” she cried.

“I have spent a lot on them, especially on Lakmal and finally, for his funeral too, I got the best suit for him, as that would be the last thing I will be doing for him,” said Rupa in tears.

A student of St. John’s College, Nugegoda, Lakmal had begun his journalistic career at 17, and had been working as a freelance journalist for several publications such as Sathdina, Kreeda, Aratuwa and Suwanda. He was also following an External Arts Degree at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura at the time of his death.

Lakmal was a born writer, as well as a skilled speaker, his mother said. “He obtained a lot of certificates for speech when he was schooling. Since he was eternally writing novels and poetry, even when he was at home during his leisure time, Lakmal hardly had time to have long conversations with us. But when he had time, he used to tell me everything – the work he does, where he goes and what his progress was like, and even his future plans,” she said.

“He never got late without informing me. Sometimes while he was at work too, he used to call and find out where I was, and whether I was doing alright. I lost such a loving son,” Rupa said.

Recalling Lakmal’s childhood, his mother remembers how he would salute each and every police officer on the road. According to her, Lakmal was very keen on politics during his childhood too, and once had cried a lot asking her to let him get onto the platform where a politician was addressing a gathering.

“Having a very powerful voice, my son was a person who could not stand injustice. He would have gone a long way, if he had lived,” she lamented.