27 years in Aussie jail for Lankan

A Melbourne man of Sri Lankan origin has been sentenced to 27 years’ jail for the murder of his parents-in-law.

Sarath Laksham Hettiarachchi killed Sammy and Iranganie Perera at his Hallam home, south-east of Melbourne, on March 7 last year by stabbing them to death.

He must serve a minimum of 22 years.

Handing down the sentence, Supreme Court Justice Betty King said Hettiarachchi, 47, had conducted the killings in a “savage and agitated manner” and shown no remorse.

The Court heard Hettiarachchi’s wife Badrakanthi watched helplessly as her husband stabbed her father, who was nursing his four-month-old granddaughter and then went on to attack her mother.

The murders occurred minutes after police served Hettiarachchi with an intervention order taken out by his wife. King said Hettiarachchi’s reaction in attacking the elderly, defenceless couple, both 76, was totally out of proportion.

She said Hettiarachchi expressed no sorrow and maintained his innocence.

“You said you had nothing to do with the killings, it must have been your wife because she was mad,” she said.

The Court previously heard the elderly couple had arrived in Australia from Sri Lanka the previous month for a holiday and were staying with Hettiarachchi and his wife at their home.

The Crown Prosecution previously told the jury, Hettiarachchi’s Sri Lankan-born wife found him controlling and was barely allowed to leave the house following their arranged marriage.

The prosecution said Perera had challenged Hettiarachchi about the way he treated his daughter on the day before the stabbing.

During her husband’s trial, Badrakanthi Hettiarachchi told the jury she had obtained an intervention order against him the day before her parents were killed. She said police came to their home and served him with the Order on March 7. Her husband packed some belongings and left the home, only to return a few minutes later, she said.

Hettiarachchi went into the kitchen, came back with a knife in each hand and went to her father, who was holding the couple’s baby daughter, Rosie, on his lap, she said.

“He put one knife into one hand and pushed Rosie away from dad’s chest. He stabbed my dad. I saw him stab my dad’s chest,” she said.

“I was very scared. I thought I was next to be stabbed. I just closed my eyes. “Then I open my eyes. I saw he was stabbing my mum’s mouth.”

She said she went to her mother’s aid, and her husband dropped the two knives nearby and left without saying anything. A Supreme Court jury found Hettiarachchi guilty of the murders on November 5.