A young female graduate travelling on a motorcycle with her husband to attend an almsgiving ceremony in memory of her late grandmother died in a road accident in Kegalle town. The deceased has been identified as 38-year-old Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Chathurika Dilrukshi Rathnayake, a resident of Thimiyagodella in Bulathsinhala.

Her husband, 40-year-old Wickramasuriya Arachchige Dileepa Sanjeewa Fernando, is a Corporal attached to the Sri Lanka Air Force Base in Sri Jayawardenepura. The couple had been married for two years and had no children. The accident occurred at the Kegalle Court Junction on October 2 while they were riding to an almsgiving organised at their home in Watapuluwa, Katugastota, to mark the tenth death anniversary of Dileepa's grandmother.

Key Points

  • The deceased is Chathurika Dilrukshi Rathnayake, a 38-year-old graduate residing in Bulathsinhala.
  • The motorcycle ridden by her husband, Air Force Corporal Dileepa Sanjeewa Fernando, collided with a private bus in Kegalle.
  • At the time of the accident, they were on their way to attend an almsgiving ceremony in Katugastota.

Husband recounts harrowing ordeal

Giving evidence at the inquest held at the Kegalle General Hospital, the husband stated that amidst traffic congestion on the road, a private bus came from behind and struck their motorcycle twice. He said the motorcycle toppled and he was trapped beneath it, and upon getting up, he saw the left front wheel of the bus resting on his wife's neck.

After the bus was immediately reversed, she was rushed in a three-wheeler to the Emergency Treatment Unit of the Kegalle General Hospital, but succumbed to her injuries shortly afterwards.

“While I was trapped under the bike, someone came and lifted it off me. Then I stood up and looked around for Chathurika. That is when I saw the front left wheel of the bus, which was behind the bike, resting over Chathurika's neck,” Dileepa Sanjeewa Fernando said.

Inquest finding

The inquest was conducted before Kegalle Inquirer into Sudden Deaths, Renuka Subodhani Kaluarachchi Nissanka. Assistant Judicial Medical Officer of the Kegalle General Hospital, Dr. Mangala Kumara, conducted the post-mortem examination and determined that the accidental death was caused by multiple traumatic injuries to the chest cavity.