SIX BLOODSTAINS ON THE VEST OF ACCUSED, RETD. IP TESTIFIES

When the murder case involving Senior Business Journalist Mel Gunasekara came up in the Colombo High Court yesterday (13), a retired police inspector who had been the OIC of the Mirihana Special Investigation Bureau at the time and who was supervising the police teams that carried out the investigation, Nimal Karunaratne said that there were six blood stains on the vest worn by the accused at the time of his arrest.

In an earlier hearing it was revealed that a DNA test conducted by the Ragama Medical Faculty proved conclusively that the blood found on the vest worn by the accused matched that of Mel Gunasekara.

Journalist Mel Gunasekara was killed on a Sunday morning on February 2, 2014. Her family had gone to church while she remained at home. The accused, Anthony Russan George, had allegedly stabbed her to death after she confronted him after he broke into her home and attempted to rob items from her home.

He had allegedly stolen Rs.1200 and her Blackberry mobile phone which the police had later found. Retd. IP Karunaratne said that the accused was tracked by CCTV footage that was obtained from houses nearby. The accused had been hired to paint Mel’s home for Christmas the year before.

Making a statement to the police Dayan Gunasekara, the brother of Mel Gunasekara, had claimed that the yellow shirt the accused was wearing when he was arrested in Dompe, belonged to him.

Karunaratne said that the accused had tried to escape when they arrived to arrest him and as a result he had fallen into a puddle of mud, which had discoloured his clothes, which include the yellow shirt and the vest.

Former IP Karunaratne, during crossexamination, said that SI Jayantha Perera had recorded a statement from the accused and questioned him about the clothes he was wearing prior to his arrest. Sub Inspector Jayantha Perera was due to be called to the stand on the next hearing date which was fixed for October 17.