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| Thursday, 19 August 2004 |
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No love and care; Girl eats kaneru by Sandasen Marasinghe The story of a young girl taking her life depressed by being forced to live alone without her parents' love and care was disclosed at a post-mortem in Colombo on Friday. Amali Pradeepika, 13, of Kurudankulama, Anuradhapura died at the Colombo National Hospital (CNH) on Wednesday. According to evidence at the inquiry, the girl died after eating kaneru seeds. She had phoned her father working in Gampaha prior to eating kaneru seeds. She had told her father over the phone that she could not stay alone at home. The girl's mother is employed in Lebanon. CNH Additional Judicial Medical Officer Dr. M.P.A.B. Abeysinghe noted that details at the post-mortem were not inconsistent with kaneru poisoning but there was a contusion on the girl's head. When Additional City Coroner M. Ashroff Rumy inquired from the child's father R.M. Meththasinghe about the contusion he said he had not noticed it. The Additional City Coroner noted in the inquest report that although the death was due to kaneru poisoning, it was debatable why she consumed kaneru. Since there was a contusion on the head, the death was suspicious and he noted the need for an investigation. The girl's father, a carpenter said in evidence that while working in Gampaha his daughter told him over the phone that she could not stay alone at home and wanted him to come immediately. Meththasinghe said his daughter had been living with his brother and mother since his wife was employed in Lebanon. He said his brother and mother had gone to the Matale Hospital when Pradeepika was returning home from school. Later, she had gone alone to another relative's house, but no one had been there. "Later she phoned me," he said. "Some time later I phoned a neighbouring house and found that she had consumed kaneru." Meththasinghe said when he went to the Anuradhapura Hospital, his daughter had been transferred to the CNH. When he rushed to the CNH he found she was dead. "I could not even talk to my daughter," the father said. The Additional City Coroner returned a verdict of suicidal death due to kaneru poisoning. Mihintale Police led evidence. |
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