SPOTLIGHT

Air Chief nose-dives as operation cover-up backfires

By Frederica Jansz

The deplorable manner in which Air Force Chief Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody tried to cover-up a motor accident with the  connivance of the police took a dramatic turn on Friday, July 5, when the cleaner of the lorry he crashed into on June 15, died.

Rathnasena Silva, fell out of the lorry when Weerakkody's Peugeot 406 car hit the lorry, at around 4.15 a.m. on June 15, at the Borella - Horton Place traffic lights.

We were told at the time that Rathnasena suffered severe concussion  and that he required a hip replacement. Warded at the Colombo General Hospital, exactly two weeks later, Rathnasena was dead. Rathnasena hails from Kalutara and was married with two children.

The air force commander was on Friday produced before the Magistrate's  Court, Maligakanda and bailed out. He will now be charged under Section 298 of the  Penal Code for causing death by negligence. It carries a maximum jail term of five years.

At the helm of Sri Lanka's most prestigious military force, Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody - commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force, at fifty years old - was sure he could serve a second term before bowing out gracefully from service.

No matter how he conducted himself both in public and private, Weerakkody was certain his horizons were crystal clear - there could be no crash landing for the cocky but smart, air force commander.

The allegations of corruption and public misconduct, Weerakkody made sure did not surface sufficiently or with tangible evidence that would mar what he has termed in his own words, "a brilliant career" in the SLAF.

Cowering in shame

Weerakkody has now proved beyond all reasonable doubt that he is nothing but a coward. Cowering in shame and fright, Weerakkody's sole concern that day (June 15) was to shield himself and him alone. He has gone so far as to falsely implicate not only an SLAF driver but his own staff officer as well - Flight Lieutenant Herath - in order that he maybe absolved from any blame.

Not once did Weerakkody have the decency or the compassion to visit Rathnasena or inquire after his wellbeing. If at all, Weerakkody only contemplated how he could 'buy off' the cleaner and driver of the lorry - so they would not talk and identify him as the SLAF commander at the scene of the accident.

In the same manner media organisations were rumoured to have been offered Rs. 500,000 to kill this story - Weerakkody was certain Rathnasena and Arthur (the driver of the lorry) were chickenfeed in his shameful plan to cover the details of this accident.

Now the silent media too has jumped the bandwagon to report the story.

This week The Sunday Leader will reveal the story behind the cover-up with collusion by top cops and the shameless attempt to subvert the process of law as revealed in the investigation conducted by DIG, Nimal Gunatilake. The events unfolded last week with details of the cover-up coming to light in the face of a thorough investigation launched by Gunatilleke.

The SLAF chief was finally forced to make an official statement to DIG Nimal Gunatilleke, who is also the STF commander and who headed this inquiry on Tuesday, July 2. Even at this stage the air chief continued to contradict himself - enacting a comedy of errors.

This was our position when we broke this story. That the SLAF chief framed a driver of the SLAF - Warnakulasuriya Upali Jayakody to take the rap for the accident - had very serious implications in the event there had been a death the driver would have to face charges for a killing and a jail sentence. This is exactly what has now happened. The only silver lining in this drama is that as a result of the media hype Jayakody has been proved to be innocent of the killing though party to the coverup conspiracy and the law will deal with the true miscreant in this crime.

In his statement to DIG Nimal Gunatilleke last Tuesday, Weerakkody had this to say. He admits that it was he who drove the Peugeot 406 car on June 15, and crashed it into a lorry. He claims however he did not know that an SLAF driver had gone to the Borella police station and taken the blame for the accident.

The air chief has told DIG Gunatilleke that his staff officer Flight Lieutenant Herath whom he telephoned on his mobile from the scene of the accident and who arrived pronto and removed him from the site, later that day informed him that "everything had been taken care of."

No official statement

Weerakkody for strange reasons did not see fit according to his statement to cross question Flight Lieutenant Herath and ascertain how indeed, "everything had been taken care of."

Surely, Weerakkody would have had the sense to ask, how 'it had been taken care of' and why there was no need for him to present himself at the Borella police station? Why did Weerakkody not at the very least, telephone the OIC of the Borella police and have the courtesy to ask if there was a necessity for him to make an official statement?

Weerakkody maybe arrogant and cocky but the man is not dense to the extent, he will meekly accept a statement made by his staff officer. "Why do they not need me?" is a question, Weerakkody should surely have asked Herath?  He did not do so because he was part of the cover up conspiracy being the chief beneficiary.

In fact despite the police officer at the scene of the accident having asked Weerakkody to report to the police for a statement he had scooted off.

The air chief has told DIG Nimal Gunatilleke that he did not even know the name of the driver and accepted Flight Lieutenant Herath's assurance that "everything had been taken care of - that the car had been released from the Borella police station and there was no need for him (Weerakkody) to make a statement."

At the time Weerakkody lied to DIG Nimal Gunatilleke, he chose to forget he had told a contradictory story to The Sunday Leader in this regard. When we contacted him soon after details of the accident began to filter, Weerakkody told us he had been at the scene of the accident but that his driver was driving the car and crashed it. When asked what the name of this driver was he said, "Upali Jayakody."

Web of deceit

What Weerakkody has now sought to do, is not only implicate SLAF driver W. Upali Jayakody but also his own staff officer Flight Lieutenant Herath as well. Herath will now be forced to face charges for conspiring to cover up the details of a motor accident, while also falsely implicating fellow SLAF officer Upali Jayakody. According to the air chief it is Flight Lieutenant Herath who got W. Upali Jayakody to go to the Borella police and give a false statement with regard to this accident. "I was not aware at the time, that this had been done," he told DIG Gunatilleke.

The SLAF commander's statement which was recorded on July 2, at 11 a.m. says the accident took place around 4.15 a.m. in the morning. He says he had left the Hilton Hotel in the company of Flight Lieutenant Mrs N. Gamage and was driving the vehicle towards Rajagiriya in order to drop Mrs. Gamage. As he was passing the traffic lights near D. S. Senanayake College - Horton Place junction, his vehicle collided with a lorry. He says he immediately got off the car and saw a passenger and another being carried into a vehicle.

The air force commander states that a policeman had then come to the scene and he had introduced himself as the SLAF commander and said he was driving the vehicle. Then he had immediately on his cell-phone contacted his staff officer, Flight Lieutenant Herath and asked him to come to the scene. He says within a few minutes his staff officer Herath and a few others had come there. He claims he thereafter went with them to the SLAF medical center for treatment and on the advice of the doctor went home and rested.

The fact of the matter however is that Weerakkody's lies and attempts at subterfuge have failed to impress or fool a police officer of the calibre of DIG Nimal Gunatilleke. As Weerakkody bluffed and tripped over his own lies last Tuesday, entangling himself in his own web of deceit - the eagle-eyed cop watched with disgust.

Later, in his report on the matter to the IGP, Gunatilleke has recommended that charges should be made against the SLAF commander for negligent driving in terms of Section 149 (1) 151 (3) of the Motor Traffic Act and Regulation 32 (1).

DIG Nimal Gunatilleke has stated that SLAF Chief, Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody is the driver of the car involved in this accident.

Subverting course of law

Gunatilleke has also stated in his report that the conduct of the SLAF commander in trying to cover up this accident was deplorable and that the attorney general's advice should be sought for criminal charges to be pressed against the air chief for subverting the course of law.

At the time the DIG made these recommendations Rathnasena Silva was not yet dead.

Weerakkody meanwhile in his statement to Gunatilleke has also denied he was under the influence of liquor at the time of the accident. The lorry driver however in his statement says the driver of the car whom he has identified as being the SLAF commander, was "smelling of liquor," when he had got down and spoken to him after the car hit his lorry

The truth, of this aspect of the story we will never be able to verify as the cops for reasons now known to all did not carry out a breathalyser test on Weerakkody, having been told by DIG Bodhi Liyanage "let the gentleman go."

Two days later, on Thursday July 4, Flight Lieutenant Herath in his statement made to DIG Nimal Gunatilleke, says that after dropping the SLAF chief at his house, he went back to the Borella police station to take the car. He claims that at the time, he figured the SLAF chief would come later and make a statement. However, he says that while at the police station, the OIC of the Borella police told him the SLAF commander need not come and that they could "shape it up" by introducing a driver. Herath admits he therefore did this because the OIC said so but that he is now aware he has committed an offence.

Asked if he would commit murder also if the OIC had told him to do so, Herath had replied, "No."

After that, Herath claims he went back to the commander's house and told Weerakkody that the Borella OIC had said he (Weerakkody) need not come to the police station and that the OIC had suggested a driver be introduced instead. Herath says he informed the commander he had complied and got an SLAF driver to go and give a statement. 

Thus, it is clear the air force commander knew the substitution the very day but allowed his driver to take the rap until and upto the point he was confronted with the facts by DIG Gunatilleke.

DIG Nimal Gunatilleke after recording Herath's statement has further recommended that action should be taken against the SLAF commander in terms of Section 199 of the Penal Code. This section states that, "intentional omission to give information about an offence by a person bound to inform" carries a term of six months or fine or both. Gunatilleke has stated that Flight Lieutenant Herath should be charged for aiding and abetting that offence. 

PC 17702 Ratnayake of the Borella traffic police who was the first at the scene of the accident from the station in his statement to Gunatilleke on this matter states that he was informed by the telephone operator of the Borella police about an accident and visited the scene and conducted inquires.

According to Ratnayake the accident took place at around 4.15 a.m. on June 15, at the Borella - Horton Place traffic lights. The number of the lorry involved in the accident is 47-5731 while the number of the Peugeot car 406 is WPGL 1233. The SLAF vehicle, Ratnayake says was travelling from Horton Place towards Rajagiriya. The lorry was coming from Narahenpita towards Borella.

When Ratnayake arrived at the scene a person there identified himself as the air force commander and said he was the driver of the vehicle. The name of the driver of the lorry is Arthur, he said.

Ratnayake asserts that he thereafter made some preliminary observations, wrote his notes and told both drivers to come to the Borella police station.

The driver did but the air force chief did not since operation cover up had begun.

In a nutshell, it is now proved it was the air force commander who was the driver of the vehicle involved in the fatal accident and that after the event an elaborate conspiracy with top cops got underway for a cover  up.

 Ratnayake says he later learnt that a woman who was with the SLAF chief and the cleaner of the lorry whose name is Rathnasena Silva had been taken to the accident ward of the Colombo General Hospital by the police mobile patrol that had earlier arrived at the scene.

Ratnayake therefore went to the accident ward to record their statements. There, he was informed the lady had already been discharged after receiving OPD treatment. The lady had given her name as Nalini of 2/21, 28th Lane, Colpetty. Her OPD ticket number was 48900. But that did not specify the nature of the injuries to her.

The cleaner of the lorry, Rathnasena Silva however was in a critical state suffering from concussion and requiring a hip replacement.

Ratnayake has said he recorded Arthur's statement but that Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody did not come to make a statement to the police.

He wrote this in the Traffic Information Book. As per his notes, it was due to the negligence of the driver - namely the SLAF commander that this accident happened.

Reserve Police Sergeant 14244 P. Gunaratne  who was in the mobile patrol has also made a statement. He says he had been working the mobile patrol in the early hours of dawn on June 15. He was in vehicle number 64-1066. This vehicle was driven by Police Sergeant D. 13122 Sirisena. The other cops in the vehicle were PC 27124 Upali and F. A. 2018 Dayananda.

Gunaratne says he saw an accident on his way near the Horton Place - Borella traffic lights and saw a lady in bell-bottoms squatting on the road and holding the door of the car involved in the accident. She appeared to be injured.

He saw another person with severe bleeding injuries lying on the road and a man standing nearby.

People had gathered by this time and had pointed to the SLAF commander and said he was the driver of the car. Gunaratne noted that he (the air chief) had a bleeding injury of the right eyebrow.

The police mobile took the woman and the cleaner to the accident ward. The lady was identified as Flight Lieutenant Diyadawa Gamage. While travelling in the police vehicle she had kept calling out for the airforce commander.

PC Gunaratne says he returned to the police station at about 7.15 a.m. on June 15, and made an entry referring to the two injured persons. But, he later found that someone had tried to smear or erase the name of D. Gamage from the book.

However the use of a chemical brought up the name that was obliterated.

DIG Nimal Gunatilleke has noted in his concluding report to the IGP that there was no such person as D. Gamage in the given address and that she had tried to conceal her factual address.

Bleeding injuries

He adds that an attempt has been made to erase the name of this woman made in the entry by R.P.S. 14244 Pushpakumara in the beat information book on June 15, 2002. Gunatilleke asserts that the person responsible for this should be identified and dealt with.

We now learn that Flight Lieutenant Nilani Gamage has quit the air force following this incident.

Meanwhile, the lorry driver Arthur has said that he was coming from Narahenpita towards Borella and brought his vehicle to a halt at the red light at the Borella - Horton Place junction. Then the green light came on and he moved forward. Suddenly, he says, a vehicle came from Horton Place and hit the left side of the lorry. He says he then saw the cleaner with injuries lying on the floor.

The man who was driving the car whom he now identifies as the SLAF commander he says, had got down and spoken to him. Arthur maintains that he (Weerakkody), was smelling of liquor. He says he also saw the lady and there were no other passengers in the car. Rathnasena whose statement was also recorded before he died has corroborated Arthur.

That ruled out the presence of another  driver  in Weerakkody's vehicle.

SLAF driver Warnakulasuriya Upali Jayakody colluding with conspirators to take the blame for the accident committed by his boss, has said in his statement to DIG Nimal Gunatilleke that he was driving vehicle no. WPGL 1233 and had been on an official errand. He has stated that he collided with a lorry and sustained minor injuries on his forehead and hand. He claims that he took treatment at a private hospital and went to the Borella police station at 8.30 a.m. on June 15, and made a statement.

DIG Nimal Gunatilleke has stated that action should be filed against Jayakody in terms of Section 179 of the Penal Code for making a false statement and in addition conspiring to cover up the truth of an accident.

And so ended this deplorable drama.