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Murder of a Thomian boxing captain

When I saw Vijitha Parakrama lithe and stylish, win the best boxer's trophy at the Stubbs Shield meet in the 1970s, held at the Echelon Square, Fort, on a site where now stands the Hotel Galadari, I decided that here was another classy pugilist in the mould of the famous Albert Perera, who in my view, is the best boxer ever produced by this country.

Watching the Thomian captain bob, weave, jab and unleash furious flurries of combination punches at close range, was as if I was seeing Albert Perera in his youth, when boxing for Zahira.

In fact, I later found that Parakrama's father W. A. Somapala, himself a former national champion, had been coached by Albert Perera at the YMCA, and had coached his son in the same style as that of the great champ.

Outstanding boxer

Incidentally, Somapala later became a jockey when horse racing was at its peak in this country, and displaying the same guts that made him an outstanding boxer, he became Ceylon's champion jockey, ahead of famous names such as Ted Fordyce and Len Sawyer.

After leaving S. Thomas', Vijitha on the death of his father, took the reins of a flourishing cane furnishing business and a general store at Justice Akbar Mawatha, Slave Island.

By then, I knew Vijitha quite well. The travel trade paper, which I was publishing at the time, was being printed at a print shop almost opposite Vijitha's store, and I would often walk across the road and have a chat with him.

One afternoon in March 1983, Vijitha Parakrama stepped out of his store, accompanied by the young Thomian boxing coach. They were on their way to Fort to collect a shield, which the former Thomian boxing captain was donating as a prize at the STC Inter House Meet, in memory of his father.

As he was entering the vehicle, two men rushed up to him from behind. One of them stabbed him in the back. Parakrama, brave and courageous, turned sideways and got hold of his assailant and held him in a viselike grip. Blood was now gushing from his wound.

Contract killing

Just then, a second assailant also stabbed Parakrama who then crumpled in a heap on the pavement. The shocked friends in the double cab rushed him to the General Hospital's Accident Service, where he later succumbed to his injuries. He was 25 years at the time of his death. Meanwhile, his assailants had vanished.

It is now 20 years since Vijitha Parakrama was murdered. Despite detailed investigations into the murder, the Police have not been able to solve the crime.

Police questioned two young men with whom Vijitha had had an altercation at a well-known hotel in Slave Island a few days before his murder, but drew a blank. It was strongly suspected that Vijitha's was a contract killing.

 

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