Relatives allege that Lalith Chaminda Hettige, an inmate detained at the Kadurugasara open prison camp in Embilipitiya, has been beaten to death.
Lalith Chaminda Hettige, a resident of Kananke Kandewatta, Matara was sentenced to three years imprisonment with hard labour by the Matara Magistrate’s Court in March last year for stealing Rs. 10,000. He was later transferred to the Kadurugasara open prison Camp in Embilipitiya.
His relatives have visited the camp on the 2nd of December and Chaminda had told his daughter about the bitter experience he had had at the camp.
His daughter Dilani Mangalika says her father had said the work in the camp was very hard and he had been told light work can be arranged if money is paid. After that, a prison officer had given her a phone call on the 9th. She says: “An officer called and gave it to my dad and said he would call back at night.
On the 10th, she suddenly received a call from an unknown mobile number. “I could hear my father speaking faintly. He said, “You will not have to see me again, daughter,”
Three days after his father’s call, Chaminda’s relatives received a message that he had fled the camp.
“Various reasons were given. Later Kananke Police called and said that her father was dead. I went to the hospital. Dad had been killed like a dog,” She says.
“Dad has told the senior officers how he had to bring drugs and cigarettes. That’s why he was killed. I saw Dad’s soles bleeding. They were blue. Do justice to my father. ” She says.
The funeral of 49-year-old Lalith Chaminda, a father of three, was held on the 18th at the Prisoners’ Rights Committee had invited the relatives of Lalith Chaminda yesterday (22nd).
However, a prison spokesman said that an investigation had been launched into the incident under an Assistant Superintendent of Prison Intelligence.
