Fractured Discipline?

By Ranee Mohamed – Photos by Asoka Fernando

It was a carnival spirit that reigned on Sunday, July 18. God fearing parents, the Fonsekas, held their eight children close as they basked in the happiness around them.
Turning a Nelsonian eye to the liquor stall,  this past pupil, whose son Dinal is a fourth generation Josephian, felt joyous in the celebrations of their alma mater. Fonseka’s mother in law, who accompanied them, enjoyed the mini carnival which took place after the walk which was held that afternoon.

The Fonsekas had much to celebrate in their personal lives for their eldest son had brought home 20 sports medals and approximately 60 certificates. A national junior athlete, Dinal had been the captain of the U-13 and U-15 cricket teams at school. Dinal Fonseka had broken the school record after 35 years, by winning the Junior  National Championship for high jump.

But life is strange and it does not take a minute for  dreams to become nightmares and for laughter to break away and make way for tears.

Carnivals are not places where blood is usually let. But on this day in July, they watched the blood splatter off the face of their oldest child Dinal (17) who was their greatest hope – the apple of their eye.

“It was the most horrible happening in our lives,” said the parents, whose five sons attended St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10. “It was about 9.45 p.m. and we were about to leave, when a person who was following my eldest son for quite some time began to assault him. At first it looked like he was hitting my son on the face, but later we saw that he had a stone clasped in his hand and that my son was being hit on the side of his face with this stone,” said these parents in tears.

“Our son is strong spirited and he did not want to fall down and give into agony. Though we heard him shouting in pain, we were surprised to see  him run behind his assailant, overtake him and catch him. The original fight began at the entrance to the basket ball court and there was a large crowd in these well lit areas,” they said.

Though young Dinal had expected to catch his assailant and question him about the reason for the assault, his intentions were soon put to rest. “It was a shocking string of events that occurred. My son who caught his assailant, was held by two other students of St. Joseph’s College – his hands and upper part of the body held tight while the assailant had a field day in continuing his assault on our son. I wanted to do something but we were transfixed,” said the parents who went on to allege that one of the boys who held Dinal was the son of a teacher. “And all this while the security personnel hardly moved. The Father Rector was nowhere to be seen or found and I wanted him contacted. But a priest who had joined the college a few months ago dialed Father Gihan,” they said.

In a letter written to a high ecclesiastic, Dinal Fonseka’s father says, “Father Gihan to whose notice the incident was brought, dismissed it by saying in Sinhala ‘This chap has not cut his hair and must be an old Josephian’. When my mother in law protested, he simply said in Sinhala ‘Bambuwa cricket, kata wahagannawa’.”The letter alleges that a person in civil clothes, believed to be a highly placed police officer, had consoled the school authority. “Don’t worry father, let these people go to any cop station, I will shape it up”. Despite the threat of a ‘shaping it up’ hanging in the air, Dinal Fonseka, with the guidance and approval of his parents, lodged police entries citing the assault (214/303 –CIB 11 of 18/7/2010; 379/280 – CIB 1 of 19/7/2010; 258/342 – CIB 11 of 20/7/2010).

The parents of Dinal Fonseka have tolerated much. In December 2007, Dinal Fonseka was  reportedly called to the Women and Children’s Bureau  for an inquiry on a complaint made by another concerned party. At this inquiry, traumatic facts that Dinal Fonseka had chosen to keep to himself came to light of how he had been blindfolded with a wet towel, stripped etc. and  assaulted with cricket boots and bed poles and fists for resisting the demands of a gang of students which bordered on sadism.

“All this was tolerated in silence by our son. He kept it all to himself because of the passionate love he had for the game and the desire to represent the College. This incident occured at the upstairs of the Premadasa Pavillion in broad daylight while the coach was present downstairs,” the parents allege.

But the love for cricket can make a young man endure many an agony. A report from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Toxicology (MLEF No. 186/10) dated July 18 states  “…He is now having difficulty in opening mouth. Fracture.” “I did so much for my school. I not only played to the best of my ability,but showed the ways to others in the team,” says Dinal. “It was all for my school, my life was about my school,” he said.

Injured and traumatised there still remains a shade of that sporting spirit in young Dinal. His eyes red-rimmed, his heart broken and his throat choking, Dinal’s nagging question is “Why?”

raneemoham@hotmail.com

An isolated incident — Rector/Principal

This is an isolated incident which cannot be identified with the school, said  Rector/Principal of St. Joseph’s College Rev. Father Sylvester Ranasinghe when The Sunday Leader contacted the school to get their side of the story.

“This incident occured after the carnival, at about 10.30 in the night. It was an unknown person who was involved. This has nothing to do with the school. We always maintain strict discipline at St. Joseph’s College and have a strict Catholic environment where education takes place,” said Rev. Father Sylvester Ranasinghe.

“This incident has nothing to do with the discipline of the college.This kind of thing happens among boys. It is a minor incident,” said the Rector.

When we contacted Father Gihan for his side of the story he said that  there was an incident and that they could not find the person who was involved in it.

“There are several accusations. It is only natural that parents stand up for their children. We have to seek the truth and ensure that justice is meted out to all,” said Father Gihan who went on to say that the school authorities have always worked towards safeguarding its good name.

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“Dinal was surprised” – Onlooker

An onlooker when contacted by The Sunday Leader  said that young Dinal was looking at his younger brother who was talking to another child when a strange young man came and asked “Ko Dinal?” (Where is Dinal?) When someone had pointed Dinal out to him he had immediately lunged at the surprised Dinal and begun to attack him. “Dinal began to stagger behind the assailant and his parents ran behind him. He was assaulted again and then someone who was supposed to be a ‘committee member’ shouted “Open the Gate” and out went the assailant. The gate was shut, never to be opened again. “This is horrifying. I see a breakdown in discipline. About six or seven months ago a student brought some thugs to assault some school prefects. One prefect was in the ICU. The student who allegedly initiated it did not suffer consequences as serious.