Atamasthanadhipathi Pallegama Hemarathana Thero arrested at Colombo private hospital for abusing 15-year-old girl. Mother and others also in custody.
The Atamasthanadhipathi (Chief Custodian of the Eight Sacred Sites), Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana Thero, was arrested by Nittambuwa Police last night (08) at approximately 11:45 pm on charges of abusing a minor girl. The suspect monk was taken into police custody while receiving treatment at the emergency unit of a private hospital in Colombo. The authorities are scheduled to report the matter to court today (09).
The mother of the minor victim was also arrested yesterday (08) for aiding and abetting the crime and for selling the girl for money. She has been remanded until the 15th. Additionally, the victim’s boyfriend, who works as a conductor, and a trader are also in custody. The police acted following the issuance of a court warrant due to the delay in arresting the monk.
This arrest was made pursuant to a warrant issued yesterday (08) by Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate Sasidu Wickramaratne. The order was issued based on evidence and submissions presented to court by the National Child Protection Authority. A travel ban has also been imposed on the suspects. The mother of the girl was produced before the Anuradhapura Magistrate’s Court and remanded until the 15th.
This abuse case, which has created intense controversy in society, came to light after the girl was taken into police custody while staying with her boyfriend at a lodge in the Nittambuwa area on April 27. When she was produced before the specialist judicial medical officer at Gampaha General Hospital, medical examinations confirmed that she had been raped on multiple occasions. The girl revealed that she was first raped by the chief monk of a temple in the Anuradhapura sacred area, and later abused by her boyfriend and a cousin.
When the case was called before the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate on April 4, as well as through investigations by the Child Protection Authority, many crucial details regarding this crime were uncovered. An even more serious fact revealed through preliminary police investigations is that the girl’s parents had been regularly receiving large sums of money and were offering their 15 year old daughter to the relevant chief monk. As another strong piece of evidence, police managed to discover the bloodstained clothes the girl was wearing at the time of the first abuse by the chief monk, which had been buried near her home. The court had previously ordered that the clothing and relevant case exhibits be referred to the Government Analyst for a report.
Since the initial crime in this incident took place in Anuradhapura, investigation duties have now been transferred to the Gampaha Division Children and Women’s Bureau on the orders of Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasuriya. Previously, a special investigation team led by an Assistant Superintendent of Police had gone to Anuradhapura and recorded a statement from the Atamasthanadhipathi monk for over three hours. The victim girl was also taken to the relevant temple for a scene inspection. The Children and Women’s Bureau of Nittambuwa Police is currently conducting further extensive investigations into the incident.
