Sri Lanka’s Terror Motorists

By Nirmala Kannangara in Payagala
Pictures by Asoka Fernando

In an astonishing twist, the families of the two dead in the Payagala road accident now claim that the nephew of Deputy Ports Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena was not involved in the accident although they confirmed to The Sunday Leader a day earlier, that there are eye witnesses who have identified the minister’s nephew as the driver involved in the fatal accident.
Nuwan Malcom (27) and Gayan Fernando (31) were killed on the spot by a speeding metallic coloured Toyota Axio car bearing registration number WP KO 1214 at Daluwatte Junction, Payagala on the Galle Road around 11.30 p.m. on Saturday January 28. Initial reports claimed that the speeding car was allegedly driven by Leshan Silva – nephew of Rohitha Abeygunawardena.
One of the cyclists, Nuwan Malcom had been dragged for a few yards before the car crashed into a parapet wall on the opposite side of the road while Gayan was thrown onto a roof a few yards away breaking it before falling to his death.
Suranga Senuwara who had been traveling towards Aluthgama on his motorcycle, too was knocked down by the same vehicle. A few minutes before Piyasena Silva (55) of Katukurunda too had been hit by a speeding vehicle. It is now believed that the perpetrator of all four accidents is one and the same person.
Although Suranga received minor injuries Piyasena is temporarily bedridden as he has suffered multiple fractures to his spine and ribcage and is currently warded at the Nagoda General Hospital.
The Payagala police however maintain that Piyasena was knocked down by a speeding private bus minutes before the Toyotoa Axio speddown the road.
When asked how the police are sure Piyasena was knocked down by a bus they replied, “We do not have proof but it is said to be a private bus,” a police officer who did not wish to be identified told The Sunday Leader.
However, the villagers at Katukurunda believe that it was the same car and not a bus that knocked down Piyasena.
Police Spokesperson, Ajith Rohana said that the suspect driver was identified at the identification parade held on Wednesday, February 1.
“The police arrested the suspect while he was taking treatment at a private hospital in Kalutara. The driver and the two other occupants had left the car and fled in fear. A DNA test will be done with the blood sample found in the car to ascertain as to who the killer driver was,” SP Rohana told The Sunday Leader.
When asked whether Leshan Silva was at the scene when the police arrived, Rohana said that there was no one at the scene other than the three victims when the police arrived.
“Those who had been in the car had fled the scene in fear for their lives,” the police spokesperson said.
When The Sunday Leader visited the two funeral houses at Payagala on Tuesday January 31, which were  adjoining each other, Krishantha Fernando, brother-in-law of Gayan Fernando, confirmed that there are eye witnesses who had spotted Leshan at the wheel at the time of the accident.
“There were two more people with Leshan and all were under the influence of liquor. After the car came to a halt after crashing into a parapet wall, the three got down and walked to the Rob Roy Restaurant near the Payagala railway station, and had consumed more liquor and left in another vehicle leaving behind the dead. This restaurant belongs to a close relative of Abeygunawardena,” said Krishantha.
He further said that eye-witnesses who gave evidence to the Payagala police have since changed their story in fear of Deputy Minister Abeygunawardena.
“We cannot trust anyone other than our own family members. We know the sudden change of the eye-witnesses accounts were for fear of their lives. It is our two families that lost our relatives. Although the Payagala police are now trying to manipulate the evidence we will fight for our rights till the end,” said Krishantha.
“Now the police say that they will find who the driver was from a DNA test. They will certainly take a blood sample from the person whom they have taken into custody and say that it was the same suspect that has driven the vehicle,” he said.
According to him, members from the Special Task Force had been deployed in Payagala along the Galle Road after the accident to prevent an uprising by angry villagers.
“By the time we came to know about the deaths, the vehicles had been removed and the blood stains on the road had been covered with sand. The police expected the neighbours to get violent. They may have government clout but we have the peoples’ power. We are determined that justice is done,” he said emotionally.
Although Krishantha said all of this on Tuesday Janaury 31, he told The Sunday Leader a different version two days later on Thursday February 2. He then maintained that Leshan Silva had not been in the vehicle at the time of the accident.
“We received wrong information. We had a discussion with Deputy Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena and the Payagala police. The Payagala police have carried out their duty flawlessly,” said Krishantha.
When asked as to why his opinion changed after the meeting with the police and Abeygunawardena, Krishantha said that the eye witnesses had misled the families.
Contradicting the Police Spokesperson, Krishantha says that it was Leshan and his friends that had helped the police to put the injured into a jeep near the Rob Roy Restaurant. “That was why the eye witnesses had suspected Leshan to have been at the wheel,” Krishantha asserted.
The reasons for this change of stance could be due to new evidence coming to light or as a result of political pressure.