Servant dies after setting fire to body,woman employer remanded

A female suspect taken into custody for the alleged killing of a female domestic servant by setting fire to her, was produced before Mahara Magistrate and was remanded till October 8.

The suspect M.A.D.Dinani Suranga was identified as a resident of Namal Place, Kiribathgoda.

Police told court that the victim Subramanium Wasantha Kokila (32) of Labukelewatta , Nuwara Eliya, a mother of two children had succumbed to her burn-injuries at the Ragama hospital, and that the suspect was taken into custody acting upon the death-bed statement made by the victim.

She had been employed by the suspect through an employment agency in Ragama area that supplied domestic servants. This woman had not been able to speak in Sinhala, and it is believed that had led to many communication issues in the house.

The deceased had made a second statement at the hospital that the suspect had set fire to her body

At the preliminary inquiry into the incident, she had told the police that the owner of the house had assaulted her for breaking a vase, and then she had run into the kitchen and set fire to herself.

She had made another statement at the hospital that the suspect had set fire to her body. Attorney at Law, Neville Abeyratne submitted that the deceased who had set fire to her own body had contradicted her first statement and maliciously made another statement implicating the suspect.

He requested the court to release the suspect on conditional bail. Meanwhile, the lawyer who watched the interests of the deceased objected to the release of the suspect.