Suspect arrested over death of child in Mulleriyawa remanded

The 52-year-old, arrested in connection with the death of a child in the Halbarawa area in Malabe last evening (June 09), has been remanded in custody until June 15, after being produced before the Aluthkade No. 6 Magistrate’s Court.

According to the police, the suspect is a grass cutter who had been in the vicinity of the construction site where the 5-year-old’s body was found.

The child, who had suffered cut wounds initially believed to have been caused by the pieces of a broken glass bottle, was found dead on Thursday evening at a construction site in the Mulleriyawa police division.

It was observed that the five-year-old, named Jonathan Mark Fonseka had died of excessive bleeding. Meanwhile, pieces of a broken glass bottle too were found approximately 4 feet away from the body. But this had raised suspicions as the investigators could not find any blood stains between the body and the shards.

Later, in a shocking revelation made during his confession, the suspect had admitted that the boy had not, in fact, died from cut wounds caused by the shards of a broken glass bottle as initially suspected.

In his confession, the 51-year-old grass cutter admitted that the child had died after the blades of his lawnmower had struck the boy accidentally.

Grappled with panic at the time, the suspect had then placed the shards of a broken glass bottle near the body, making it appear as the apparent cause of the critical injuries suffered by the child.

The police earlier said the child had been looked after by his grandparents during the daytime, while his mother, who is separated from her husband, was away at work.

The body of the child was handed over to the parents following the completion of the post-mortem examination at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Mulleriyawa.