Rishad named as fifth suspect in death of teenage domestic worker

Former minister Rishad Bathiudeen has been named as the fifth suspect in the case pertaining to the death of a 16-year-old domestic worker at his residence. 

Meanwhile the four suspects including the MP’s wife who were arrested following investigations into the teenage girl’s death have been further remanded until September 06.

They were ordered to be re-remanded when the case was taken up before the Colombo Magistrate’ Court today (23).

On July 15, the 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.

Jude Kumar Ishalini, 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.

Thereby, the former minister’s wife, father-in-law, and the middleman in question were taken into custody on July 23 based on the testimonies recorded from nearly 20 individuals, autopsy results, and the evidence gathered by the investigating officers which pointed to the fact that the deceased girl was subjected to abuse.

In addition, the 44-year-old brother-in-law of MP Bathiudeen was also taken into custody and produced before the Judicial Medical Officer for allegedly sexually abusing a young woman who worked as a domestic helper at the lawmaker’s official residence from 2015 to 2019.

Her remains were exhumed on July 30 for a second postmortem by a court-appointed specialist medical team.