Sri Lanka News, update throughout the day....

RESERVED POLICE CONSTABLE INJURED AND ADMITTED IN THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL AFTER ASSAULT BY MINISTER’S SON

Partly erased obscene graffiti written by the son of Jayalath Jayawardena The obscene part has been probably covered with yellow paint by school authorities
(photo by Nimal Dayarathna - Divaina )

By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

July 26.10.30 AM:A gang of International School students led by the son of Minister Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena assaulted and wounded a constable attached to the Cinnamon Gardens Police station after he attempted to prevent them from writing obscene statements ridiculing a girl on the parapet wall of a leading girls school in Colombo.

The assault of the policeman by the Minister’s son took place, ironically, only few days after the LTTE controlled students of the Jaffna University assaulted the Minister.

The wounded policeman was attacked by the minister’s son with a sharp weapon on his left ear and was admitted to the National Hospital Colombo where he was taking treatment, Police sources in Colombo said.

Immediately after the attack, the Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees Minister, Dr. Jayalath who is also a medical doctor attempted to bring the injured police officer to him through his security guards but the officers at the Cinnamon Garden Police station refused to send him over to the Minister, police sources said. They sent him to a hospital for treatment instead, they said..

The assault of the policeman took place after the Ministers son was writing obscene statements on the parapet wall of the St. Bridget’s Convent, a Cinnamon Garden girl’s school where the elite of the city send their daughters for education. Photographs published by the Divaina showed the obscene graffiti allegedly written by the Minister’s son, part of which the school authorities had tried to cover with yellow paint. .

Reserve Police constable M. Bandara (33589) of the Cinnamon Garden Police was out of danger but had received serious injuries on his left ear and was suffering from hearing difficulties after the attack hospital sources said. He also had other injuries caused by concussions the same sources said.

According to evidence the gang of students came in two vehicles, one an official vehicle registered to the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees about 11.45 at night. . Then they started writing obscene statement on a parapet wall mentioning the name of a girl studying in the Convent. The constable advised them not to write anything on the wall. They said they were only pasting posters. They also had pasted posters. The same gang returned after 15 minutes to the spot and inquired from the Police officer Bandara as to who had removed the posters they had just pasted. One was also bragging about that he was the son of a powerful minister, Professor Jayalath Jayawardena. The Police officer then advised the Minister’s son not to paste any posters on the parapet wall of the convent and go do that somewhere else. Provoked by the continued interference with their fun the Minister’s son attacked him with a metallic object on his ear and others, about eight of them also started assaulting him. He warned not to attack him and said he would be compelled to shoot. He used his pistol and fired warning shots to the air when the attackers took to their heels.

This was not the first time a Ministers son suspected of being under the influence of liquor went berserk and violated law openly in Colombo. The teenage sons of Ministers S.B. Dissanayaka and Mahinda Wijesekera had acted violently in the past and some newspapers even refused to publish the stories. The JVP journal Niyamuwa said

Colombo’s free media advocate Victor Ivan refused to run the stories because of his personal friendships with the ministers. They were also not prosecuted in a court of law.

(26/07/03 go2lanka.com)