Iron Ranasinghe vs Wasantha Soyza

Anuradhapura of all places for a turf war! This story is reported to satisfy the ghoulish appetite for the Halloween starved public, with every minute details of the incident caught on CCTV.

Social Media has gone wild, not just on the machismo the deceased, but also of the threats of the accused, where he actually had the gall to record his threats on FB and then prior to his being arrested, shown video of his rationale for murder!

The bravado of such people, who either have no respect for law, or believe they can get away with it due to influence or other contacts is worrying. I have not seen any political analysts talking about this as much as about Police Brutality and Student Unrest, but for a civilized society we must address such common feelings of revenge, and resorting to murder to exact revenge.

While it is true that due to the nature of the victim and accused, there is no sympathy for either, and so no one has addressed the real problem of those who wish to take the law into their own hands, and are willing to resort to bringing a private army of inebriated people to attack and kill, though the publicity is that of maximum damage to the establishment and NOT murder!

It is just as well that the accused, and participants have for the most part been arrested, and also the persons harboring the accused. However in a case such as this that from the video footage cannot be anything other than pre meditated murder how is the State Prosecutor, the AG going to build a case that sends ALL the accused who came with poles to be collectively found guilty of murder and be incarcerated for life, so that no one will in future will attempt, any such ‘daring do’ knowing full well that even an accessory to murder will also be held equally responsible.

It has been reported that the accused first got all these people drunk, before persuading them to join him in wrecking the night club, when murder was his intention all along.

As with all news only many months from now, after all other than the accused is given bail will the court case proper get under way, and years before there is a judgment. In the meantime, what kind of treatment will the accused, a deserter face in remand? He seems to have a following and so will no doubt build a reputation in jail as well, and perhaps run an underworld racket from within.

It is as well for the Police to be forewarned so that they are forearmed with this knowledge and take appropriate action to minimize adverse repercussions.