Murder within the Welikade Prison in the 1960s

As the Office Jailor responsible for general administration matters at Welikade Prison, from 1963 to 1967, I was required to be present in the prison at 6.00 a.m. on all working days, as prisoners had to be sent out early morning to other prisons, to court houses, medical clinics etc.

On the day in question, I arrived at the outer door of the prison shortly before 6.00 am & was surprised to note feverish activity among the staff & knew at once that something serious was taking place. As I approached the inner locked steel gate of the prison, the Gate Keeper on duty informed me that:
1. the son of prisoner Devasurendra had been murdered during the night
2. prisoner Lionel Gunasekera, was suspected to be the killer
3. the Superintendent (SP), Mr. W. J. de Silva was already in office 
4. the police are due to arrive for investigations.

Readers may wonder how a murder could be committed at night inside a prison, where prisoners are supposed to be locked up in their cells at night. I need therefore to provide some background information.

At the Welikade Prison, almost opposite the office of the SP, there is a three storeyed building known as the H Ward. Each floor can accommodate around 15 prisoners in individual cells. It is known as the Star Class Ward from the time of the British administrators of the prison. A special feature of this ward is that:
1. It accommodates only prisoners classified as Star Class Prisoners, 
2. Each cell is occupied by a single prisoner
3. Individual cells are not locked at night, but the entire building is locked
4. Prisoners wear long trousers instead of the short trouser usually worn by ordinary prisoners
5. As a general rule, star class status was awarded by the SP only to people of some standing in society, who are in prison.

In general, at night, one guard patrols the area covered by several wards from the outside. However, at this time, Mapitigama Buddharakkhita , a specially guarded prisoner was an inmate of the H ward & he was assigned the first cell on the ground floor &. his cell was not only locked at night but also guarded by a senior guard who was present just outside the cell. The guard too was locked up within the ward.

Therefore, all other prisoners within the ward could move freely even at night but had to be mindful of the presence of a guard outside prisoner Buddharakkhita 's cell on the ground floor.

Such were the circumstances under which the murder had taken place.

I walked into the Superintendent's (SP) Office & there he was in his cubicle beside the Orderly Room with prisoner Lionel Gunasekera, seated by his side on a bench. Both were quite calm & composed. The SP immediately asked the prisoner to stand up & lower his trousers, & I saw a leather strap tied around his right thigh & a clear imprint of a knife on the thigh. The SP then showed me the knife, that had been strapped to the thigh.  He then told me to call the Borella Police & inform that further delay on their part could result in vital evidence being lost. I did so, & when the police arrived, the imprint of the knife could still be seen.

How the story unfolded before the arrival of the police was later pieced together & it was as follows.
1. the elder Devasurendra whose cell was on the third floor had alerted the prison guard that he heard a cry from his son's room, which was directly above prisoner Buddharakkhita's room on the second floor, & that as he came out of his own cell, he saw prisoner Gunasekera coming out of his son's cell. 
2. the prison guard had alerted the officer on duty outside 
3 in the meantime, the elder Devasurendra & one or two other prisoners found that the younger Devasurendra had been stabbed on the chest & appeared to be lifeless
4. the SP was informed & he rushed to the prison, saw & heard what had happened
5. he directed that the victim be despatched to hospital, that a senior officer be placed outside his cell, that the police be informed., that a search be made for the knife within & outside the ward, & that prisoner Gunasekera be taken to the orderly room & kept under guard. 

On being questioned by the SP, a few prisoners, including prisoner Buddharakkhitta, had informed that they heard a faint cry, but could say no more. The guard outside prisoner Buddharakkhita 's cell too had heard a faint cry, but took no steps as his responsibility was to guard his prisoner. However, he had conveyed what the elder Devasurendra told him to an officer outside.

On his return to the office, the SP had questioned Gunasekera, who had denied that he was involved in the incident & claimed that he was being implicated because the elder Devasurendra was not well disposed towards him. 

Normally, in the prison, prisoners alleged to have been involved in such incidents are searched ie they are asked to remove their clothes to check whether they have concealed anything within their clothes or body. When this was done in the presence of the SP, a knife strapped to his right thigh was revealed. Gunasekera's explanation had been that he was having a knife to protect himself from his enemies inside the prison, & that he had nothing to do with the alleged attack on the younger Devasurendra. The knife had no visible blood stains.

Prisoner Gunasekera was an old Peterite, from a respectable family, around 35 to 40 years, very fluent in English, stocky & well built, prone to get into arguments, but often very polite & suspected by some of the staff, as a person having psychopathic tendencies.
The elder Devasurendra was a retired Village Headman in his seventies, was a soft-spoken harmless man, who could be fierce if provoked. He was from the Walasmulla area.
The younger Devasurendra was in his early forties, thin & wiry, somewhat of a loner, did not get on well with other prisoners & disliked.

All three prisoners were serving terms of life imprisonment for murder.

The Borella police soon arrived & commenced investigations. The victim Devasurendra was found to have several stab injuries in the chest area from which he had died. The circumstances pointed to prisoner Gunasekera as the likely culprit, & after his statement was recorded & other formalities completed, he was transferred to Bogambara or Mahara Prison. 

I cannot remember whether the body of the younger Devasurendra was handed over to the relatives, as it is usually done or whether it was buried at state expense.

In the course of time, the trial of Lionel Gunasekera for the murder of the younger Devasurendra came up before the Supreme Court, Colombo presided over by Justice H. W. R. Weerasooriya, in the year 1966 or 1967.The accused was defended by Senior Lawyer, E. D. Cosme. The circumstantial evidence apparently was convincing & the accused was found guilty & sentenced to death for the second time in his life. I was among those present throughout the trial.

I left the Prisons Service at the end of 1967 but learnt from the newspapers that his appeal against the conviction was dismissed & that he was one of the last persons to be executed at Bogambara Prison in 1975 or 1976.

The motive for the murder could not be ascertained, but many prisoners said that the alleged assailant & the victim, who worked in the "Tailors Party" were not on good terms with each other. 

We could not also find out how Gunasekera obtained the leather strap & knife. A Prison Officer would have smuggled it in. Gunasekera gave evasive answers to us & the Police. 

It was a premeditated murder for which Gunasekera had to pay the maximum price.

This is written over 50 years after the event from memory.