Survivor of Ottawa attack feeling community support

Tears welled up in the eyes of the sole survivor of a mass killing as he contemplated life without his wife and kids — as well as the plight of the man now charged in their deaths, a family friend said Friday.

Naradha Kodituwakku of the Buddhist Congress of Canada was among several people who visited Dhanushka Wickramasinghe in the hospital to comfort him as he recovered from his injuries.

Wickramasinghe underwent surgery to repair serious but non life-threatening damage to his hands and face, injuries sustained in a struggle late Wednesday with the attacker who allegedly killed his family.

His brother and father will soon arrive from Sri Lanka to help in his emotional recovery — a harrowing road made smoother by the outpouring of public support, including at a vigil scheduled for Saturday.

“’I can see that the people are with me,’” Kodituwakku quoted his friend as saying during his visit.

“He did have tears in his eyes, but (at) the same time he did mention that, you know, (the suspect’s) only a young kid ... so there was compassion.”

That showed “the kind of person that he is,” Kodituwakku said. “Big smile and compassionate.”

“He’s strong,” Kodituwakku added. “But he’s shaken.”

Febrio De-Zoysa, a 19-year-old international student who attended Algonquin College and recently moved in with the family, faces six counts of first-degree murder and one charge of attempted murder, following the mass killing in Ottawa earlier this week.

The dead included 35-year-old Darshani Ekanayake and her four children, the youngest only twoand-a-half months old.

Gamini Amarakoon Amarakoon Mudiyanselage, 40, was also found dead at the scene. Police described him as a friend who had recently arrived from Sri Lanka and was living with the family.

He had a wife and two kids and only arrived in Canada about two months ago in hopes of a better life, said Kodituwakku: “The kids want to see their father.”