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29 March 2024

Man convicted of bigamy with mom, daughter

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By Correspondent

A man in Sri Lanka has been found guilty of bigamy for being married to a woman and her daughter at the same time, the ‘Mirror’ reported on Friday.

He was given a six- month suspended jail sentence with hard labour by the Avissawella magistrate.

In the year 2009, a 44-year old woman was married to the suspect at the marriage registration office in Getaheththa. Later, he married her 20-year-old daughter at the marriage registration office in Deraniyagala.

The suspect informed the court that he is ready to accept his second wife. The first wife was considered the defendant in the case since the daughter had married the suspect knowing that he is her mother’s husband.

Lanka ‘pilgrimage’ ends in tragedy for Swiss family

When Javeen Annanlingham and his wife Jeyanthimala Javeen brought Janani and Janan from Switzerland for a visit to Sri Lanka, they never expected to return home with the lifeless bodies of their children – victims of the scourge of road accidents in this country.

Sixteen-year-old Janani and 12-year-old Janan became victims of a hit- and-run road accident on Galle Road in Wellawatte, when a car travelling at more than 120kph ploughed through them at a pedestrian crossing.

“The trip to Sri Lanka was a pilgrimage,” said Javeen. “First we went to Jaffna, visited temples and made offerings, then we went to Kataragama.  On the day of the accident, our family and our 29-year-old cousin-sister had visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth and other temples in the Kandy area and were returning to the children’s grandparents’ home in Wellawatte,” said the tearful father Javeen, 48.

While crossing the road at about 10.30pm, his wife was walking in front, with the other three following hand-in-hand.  “I heard a loud sound and found that my children and our cousin-sister had fallen at the pedestrian crossing,” Javeen said in an interview with the Sunday Times.

During the interview, news came from a private hospital that Janan, a sixth standard student, had succumbed to the severe blow to his head.

The scene at a funeral parlour in Colombo was deeply saddening. The mother, unable to bear the loss of her loved ones, was begging and pleading with friends and relatives to bring the children back to life.

“How can a man kill children and then run away as if nothing had happened?” demanded Annanlingham.  “It is heartbreaking to return to an empty house in Switzerland with the memories of our children. We are taking the bodies back because the children were born and raised there and all their friends have asked that we bring the bodies so they could pay their last respects.”

The couple’s 29-year-old cousin, Varany Balasuriyan, was also a victim of the accident. “My mother was planning to give my sister away in marriage this year,” said her brother Vasakar. “Both Janani and Janan wanted her to join this trip.”  He said the police had told them that the car that hit the family had been driven at about 120 kmph.

The vehicle involved in the hit-and-run accident was driven to a military detachment base in the Cinnamon Gardens police area as the culprit tried to evade arrest.  Police spokesmen Buddhika Siriwardena said senior police officers had called the military and told them to surrender the driver and vehicle. The driver and vehicle were later handed over to police.

A three-wheeler driver , who saw the accident, said he had given chase to the vehicle but  had given up the chase when the car had entered a former high-security area.

 The same vehicle, just before this accident, had knocked down a motorcyclist who has been admitted to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital  in Kalubowila.

The police have recorded a statement from a woman who was in the car at the time of the accident. Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya said he is aware of the incident but needed to verify information about the car entering a military detachment.

Conman dupes family of Rs36,000

A conman pretending to be an officer of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has duped a family in Waga, Boraluwatenna of money and jewellery.

The conman visited the family and informed them that their son Nalin, who works in South Korea, had won Rs390,000 in a lottery conducted by an insurance company. He promised to return the following day with the relevant forms, which he said a member of the family should attest, by signing on a stamp valued at Rs36,000.

When the conman arrived the next day, the family gave him Rs10,000 in cash and a gold chain worth about Rs 26,000 for the balance amount. After taking the money and the gold chain, the man left immediately, without giving them any form to be signed. The family then realised that they had been duped and had called out to the conman but he made off without a glance behind.

The police are yet to arrest the culprit.