Officers of Govt Analyst’s Dept visit Bathiudeen residence

Parliamentarian Rishad Bathiudeen’s residence was today (August 02) inspected by the Government Analyst’s Department and Scene of Crime Officers (SOCO).

This was over the death of the teenage domestic worker who died of burn injuries while serving the Bathiudeen household.

The officials from the Government Analyst’s Department searched the residence for nearly an hour this morning, while the SOCO visited the residence in the afternoon.

In addition, it is reported that officials of the Children and Women’s Bureau of Sri Lanka Police also visited Bathiudeen’s house today and recorded statements.

Police have so far recorded statements from nearly 40 people in connection with the death of the girl.

It has been revealed that apart from the deceased teen, another 10 female domestic workers had served the Bathiudeen household since 2009.

However, three among them, including the deceased girl, have died.

The police have recorded the statements from the eight surviving employees.

Meanwhile, protests were held in several parts of the country today demanding justice for the deceased teen.

On July 15, a 16-year-old girl, who was serving as domestic help at the Bathiudeen residence, succumbed to severe burn injuries while receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital. She had been under medical care for 12 days since her admission to the hospital on July 03.

The girl, who was residing in the Dayagama area, had been 15 years of age when she was brought to the parliamentarian’s residence at Bauddhaloka Mawatha for domestic work last October.

The judicial medical officer who conducted the post-mortem on the girl’s death concluded that she had been sexually exploited. Her remains were exhumed on July 30 for a second postmortem by a court-appointed specialist medical team.