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| The suspect and the contraption (inset) he used to kill the victims |
The mysterious roadside killing of destitute homeless persons within Colombo city and its suburbs in the last two years, was solved when police made a breakthrough in their investigations.
The breakthrough came unexpectedly when the police were on routine road patrol in the Mt. Lavinia area.
The suspect, who was previously arrested two months back, got off scot-free by pretending to have a speech disability. The second time he tried the same tactic, but without success.
Mt Lavinia Police, Crimes Division Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Sub Inspector (SI) Tissa Sugathapala who was responsible for the breakthrough, told the Sunday Times that, according to preliminary investigations, the suspect is allegedly responsible for at least 16 killings which took place in 2010 and 2011.
“Two months back, we received information around 2 a.m. about the roadside death of a beggar in Mt. Lavinia. As we were heading towards the scene of the crime, we noticed a man walking on the road. We walked passed him, but on suspicion, we turned back, only to see him getting into a three-wheeler and escaping. We managed to apprehend him at the checkpoint ahead. Though he pretended to be dumb, we brought him to the station,” he said.
However, a few days later, police felt that there was no necessity in keeping him, and released him.
“Nevertheless, I had my suspicions about the man. We were looking for him for about a month, but could not find him. Last week, during a night patrol, as we were passing the Mt. Lavinia supermarket, we noticed a beggar sleeping and, a few feet away, a man seated. Between them was something that looked like a concrete block, which I thought was quite unusual. When we stopped the vehicle, the man tried to run away, but was apprehended,” he said.
 They found that it was the same person they had earlier apprehended and released, but since he acted in a suspicious manner, he was brought to the station. “When we brought him to the station, he pretended to be dumb, but we suspected that he could understand us and may even be able to talk. We took him to Deaf and Blind school, where we were told that he may be able to speak. He was then taken to a psychiatrist, who advised us that the best way was to get friendly with him to check if he could talk,” SI Sugathapala said.
“We gave him food which he liked, took him to the beach, gave him betel, and few days later, he started talking”, he said.
The man initially claimed that the first killing he carried out was of a man in Kelaniya. He had killed all of them by dropping the concrete block on their heads. In Kelaniya, the man he killed was not a beggar, but a drunk who had fallen asleep on the roadside.
Another two persons he killed were women, at two bus stands in Kotahena. They had been waiting for a bus and fallen asleep. Another man was also killed in the same area.
Another drunk who had fallen roadside in Maradana, was also killed by this man, investigations revealed. “So it was not only that beggars were killed,” the Crimes OIC said.
Among the other areas where persons were killed were Peliyagoda - three, Slave Island - two and one each in Mt. Lavinia, Kiribathgoda, Kollupitiya, Wellawatte, Bamabalapitiya and Moratuwa.
The OIC said that the suspect, on being taken to these areas, had shown the police officers how he carried out the killings, and in some instances, showed the stones he had used for the killings.
One of his motives was to rob the victims of their cash and other personal belongings, while the other was that he bore a grudge against beggars.
Police have found an eyewitness who had seen the man killing a beggar on the roadside in Moratuwa, and accordingly, police hope to file murder charges against him.
The suspect identified as Anna Liyanage has been remanded until December 14.
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