KONDAYA TELLS HIS STORY TO MEDIA

Mother comes forward to bail him out

Dunesh Priyashantha alias ‘Kondaya’ today alleged he was coerced while in detention at the CID to sign a false statement indicating his confession.

The CID had forced him to confess to the killing of fiveyear-old Seya Sandewmi of Kotadeniyawa.

Appearing before te media for the first time just after he was granted bail by the Gampaha Magistrate, Dunesh charged that he was brutally beaten by the CID officers before he was forced to sign the lengthy confessional statement.

“I am not that literate. I did not make such a statement and therefore I did not know what the statement contained. I signed it because I was forced to do so after being beaten by the CID officers several times,” he said.

“I never assisted my brother to commit this crime. I have never seen daughter Seya neither had I any connections with her family. I did not even know that I was arrested on charges of molestation and the killing of Seya. I do not deny that I had a few court cases where I had been made guilty for one of my friend’s offences. I tried to avoid the police since I was scared that I would be arrested for those cases,” Dunesh said.

He revealed to the media that the tale on how Seya was murdered by

As she was over 60 years old, the court said she was not eligible to give bail. However, after I requested the Magistrate to accept her bail due to unavailability of any other individual to bail him out, he accepted Dunesh’s mother to be eligible to provide bail

Dunesh was something that was fabricated by the police. He said though he badly wanted to tell the court that he was not guilty, he feared for his life due to threats by the police.

He also said he had never been addressed as ‘Kondaya’ by anyone until he was arrested under suspicion over the killing of Seya. He said it was the media that branded him as ‘Kondaya’.

Explaining how he was maltreated at the CID, he said his face was covered with a gunny bag, dragged by his head along a concrete wall and beaten with clubs.

Meanwhile he said that his relationship was also broken after his name was linked with the killing.

According to his revelations, it was not Dunesh who made the confessional statement where a dramatic tale has been fabricated.

Speaking at the media briefing Udul Premarathne, a lawyer from the Lawyers’ Organisation for Rights said Dunesh’s character was brutally destroyed by the media.

“Who is kondaya? Who dubbed that name? We could witness how our media and the so-called law enforcements acted in this particular case. Dunesh has not misled the CID or court by giving false statements but, the CID compiled the statement with the intention of finishing the investigations soon.

If the DNA technology was not available in our country, Dunesh would have been convicted in this case. Under such irresponsible law enforcements, imagine the state if the death penalty is enforced in our country? All innocent people will be killed in vain. So, we urge the authorities to look into this case seriously and re-consider establishing death penalty in the country,” Mr. Premarathne said. Dunesh Priyashantha alias ‘Kondaya’ who remained in custody despite being released on bail a few days ago, was released yesterday after his mother came forward to bail him out. Kondaya was released on bail by the Gampaha Magistrate on Wednesday in relation to two separate cases of unauthorized entry into a residence and assault charges.

He ordered the suspect be released on two sureties of Rs.50, 000 each. However, the Magistrate ordered that Kondaya be remanded at the Mahara Prison since no one came forward to bail him out.

The Counsel appearing for the suspect, Udul Premaratne yesterday said the suspect’s mother had come forward to bail him out. “As she was over 60 years old, the court said she was not eligible to give bail. However, after I requested the Magistrate to accept her bail due to unavailability of any other individual to bail him out, he accepted Dunesh’s mother to be eligible to provide bail,” Premaratne said.

Dunesh was brought to Court yesterday from Mahara Prison and was released after his mother bailed him out.