Grieving Diane’s debt ordeal
BY SALLY HIND s.hind@dailyrecord.co.uk a ScoTS widow whose husband was murdered in Sri Lanka a year ago fears she will die there because she still can’t afford to come home.
Diane De Zoysa, 60, has spiralled into debt as she tries to support the family of her husband, 26.
We told last year how Diane had sold her home in Musselburgh, East Lothian, and used the cash to build a house for her and Priyanjana De Zoysa in Ahungalla, south of the capital Colombo. She also bought him a minibus.
She married Priyanjana in 2012, just seven months after meeting him, and moved to Sri Lanka in 2016.
But Diane’s retirement ended in tragedy when Priyanjana was shot three times on May 30, 2017, by blackmailers who learned he had come into money.
Since then, Diane has been attempting to find a lawyer who could help her sell the property, which was put in the name of her husband’s family. Her in-laws do not want to sell.
Diane – who says she is in need of medical care due to heat-related illnesses – has run up thousands of pounds in debt and credit card bills trying to support Priyanjana’s family and buy basic provisions. She said: “I feel like I’m stuck here forever and I will die here. In order for me to leave Sri Lanka, I need to pay to have my possessions shipped back home.
“Then I need money for a flight and to pay to have my possessions in storage until I can find a flat.
“Not much has changed since last year except that I am in a lot of debt.”
She gave her husband £60,000 and bought him the bus for £31,000.
Diane is adamant she does not want to leave Sri Lanka without her savings, which are tied up in the house and possessions.
She said her in-laws do not like her to travel far unaccompanied and she feels like a “prisoner”.
Diane said: “The British High Commission have done nothing. All they did was send me a list of English-speaking lawyers.”
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said they were trying to help.