Kalutara schoolgirl’s death: Police permitted to detain main suspect

Kalutara Magistrate’s Court has allowed the police to detain the main suspect arrest over the death of a 16-year-old schoolgirl in Kalutara.

Accordingly, the suspect was ordered to be detained for 48 hours for interrogations after being produced before Kalutara chief magistrate Neetha Hemamali Halpandeniya today.

He was arrested on Tuesday morning (May 09) in the area of Hikkaduwa, based on a tip-off received by the Kalutara Police.

The suspect was identified as a 29-year-old named Danushka Gayan Sahabandu residing in Isuru Uyana, Kalutara.

During the court proceedings, the police told the chief magistrate that 24 hours are not enough to interrogate the suspect, and sought a 48-hour detention order on him.

Representing the defendant, Attorney-at-Law Sarath Karawita, quoting the medical officer, told the court that it has been determined that the death of the schoolgirl is not a murder, but a suicide.

The defence attorney questioned as to why his client is being detained for 48 hours even after he presented all facts to the police.

In response, Sub-Inspector K.N.A.G.D. Bandara said the suspect needs to be questioned further and that a blood sample needs to be obtained from him to ascertain whether he had consumed alcohol on that day.

The case will be called before Kalutara Magistrate’s Court again on May 12.

During the interrogations following his arrest, the suspect dismissed the murder accusations and told police that the teen had jumped off the window of the hotel room they were staying at.

In his statement, the suspect further mentioned he was not acquainted with the schoolgirl prior to meeting her for the first time on that fateful day and that he was introduced to her by the 22-year-old who is currently in custody in connection with the incident.

The naked body of the 16-year-old was found on May 06 near the five-storey hotel building, located next to the railway tracks in Kalutara.

The 29-year-old told the police that he visited the hotel on May 06 along with another young couple and the 16-year-old girl after renting two rooms on the third floor. He had also admitted to consuming alcohol with them.

Later, the young couple left the hotel premises, while the suspect stayed behind with the schoolgirl.

In his initial statement given to the police, the suspect confessed that they have had no sexual intercourse, despite being intimate with one another.

According to him, the teen, in the interim, had received a call during which she chided at the caller using foul words.

Soon after the call ended, she climbed onto the chair next to the window and jumped off the building following which he left the hotel premises in a state of panic, the suspect further told the police.

young couple – a girl aged 19 and a 22-year-old male – who were with the main suspect and the deceased girl were later arrested after they surrendered to the police. Meanwhile, another person, identified as the driver of the car in which the group arrived at the hotel, is also currently under arrest. The trio has been put behind bars on remand until May 15 after being produced before Kalutara Magistrate’s Court.

Probes into the incident revealed that the National Identity Card (NIC) produced by the 16-year-old girl in order to rent a room at the hotel, in fact, belongs to one of her friends.

Meanwhile, the investigators are looking into the mobile phone records of the deceased girl to find out more about the alleged telephone call she received while she was with the suspect.

They also uncovered that the 22-year-old youth in custody had discarded the schoolgirl’s mobile phone into the Kalu River soon after her heath.

According to the police, the medical reports have indicated that the deceased student had not been sexually assaulted prior to her death.