The conscience of the law
Pauline de Cruz judgment
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A crime is usually known by the name of the victim. Otherwise, the place where the crime took place is cited. But when the character of the accused emerges more strongly, there are also times when the incident becomes public. Pauline de Cruz is the best example.
Pauline, a Burgher girl, was the daughter of a bank employee who lived in Dehiwala area. By today's standards, she would be considered a radical young woman. Educated in English up to the general level, she had a great love for literature and her own vision of life. Pauline started dating at the age of 17. By the age of 20, she had experienced many things through a chain of relationships. Those involved in Pauline's defenses were not petty people. Mostly they are top police officers. Or those who hold high positions or are rich. Among them was a priest who listened to her confessions. The peculiarity was that most of them were much older than her. Although she was by no means a beauty by standard criteria, it was generally accepted that Pauline had a special ability to attract married Thalestans. She later wrote in her diary that her love for forbidden love was her greatest weakness.
Bodhipala Kirambakanda, a businessman, joined the list of Pauline's lovers in 1966. Twice as old as her, Hey E Wanav is the father of two daughters, aged fifteen and fourteen, and an eleven-year-old son. Bodhipala, who was a businessman, had close political acquaintances. Among the guests who came to his house were members representing the ruling party. Pauline also came to his house from time to time as a friend. But his wife did not like the burgher girl's yum eem and her style. Like any woman, she realized that there was some secret here. Due to this, there were frequent quarrels in the house. Sometimes the wife took eleven-year-old Ramdas Gotabha along on her husband's journeys. But it is not possible to say whether this has fulfilled her expected tasks because he is mentally quite a slow child. An innocent, he was also very friendly with Pauline. In other words, no matter how good the relationship between Bodhipala and Pauline was, Gotabhaya Kirambakanda was hardly an obstacle. In the end of January 1966, she recorded in her diary that Pauline considered this relationship seriously and Bodhipala promised her father that he would marry her as soon as he got the divorce from his wife.
A week later, on February 7, 1966, Gotahaya Kirambakanda, who left home to go to school on Mount Hene Road, did not come to school. Further investigation revealed that he had not gone to school that day. The next morning, the watchman, who was about to draw a bucket of water from the well of the temple on Mount St. Rita Road, near the school, noticed that there was a human body in the bucket. Alarmed, Hay called the neighbors. A dead body of a uniformed school student was recovered from the well. It was identified as that of Gotabhaya Kirambakanda. A post-mortem conducted by Dr M C Bulgens at the Lunawa Hospital concluded that the death was due to drowning and suffocation. After taking these facts into consideration, the Senior Coroner PADJ Wijesinghe decided that it could be a suicide.
But Jessica's relatives were not satisfied with this conclusion. They doubted that the suicide of an eleven-year-old child, who had left home to go to school, and fell into an unknown well near the school, could not be considered an accident. While the little child's body was being prepared for the funeral, there was a commotion in the house. Two government members who were friends of the family came to resolve this and advised Bodhipala that it would be best for him to apply for another post-trial investigation himself. Accordingly, on the evening of February 09, the body was forwarded to the Colombo Forensic Medical Officer, Chanda Amarasekara. In this second autopsy, attention was also paid to several neck injuries that had not been observed the previous day. Dr. Amarasekara was of the opinion that the death of Gotabhaya Kirambakanda took place between 9.30 am on February 07 and 2.30 am on February 08, and that it was not a suicide or an accident but a murder. Since the body had been submerged for a long time, and by the time the second examination was conducted, it was difficult to draw more precise conclusions on the basis of the forensic evidence. Pauline also attended the funeral the next day. Jessica Kirambakanda's friend Binaka Jansen was there with her servant Koluvada. When Jessica's sister Siltha asked Kolua, "Has the baby come there", rumors spread that Kolua replied that he had arrived two days ago (ie February 07). This indicated that he had gone to Binaka's house on the evening of his death. But Kolua later said that he did not mean Gotabaya but Binaka's daughter by 'baby'.
Due to the death of Ramdas Gotabhaya, which was given publicity in the newspapers, there was a great controversy all over the country. But there was no clue as to how the murder took place. Rumors were spreading that Paulin was walking around with the child when the child died, that the child's book bag was found in an abandoned land near Paulin's house, and that the officers of Mt. Kilkissa and Dehiwala police stations were hiding Karuna because of their friendship with Paulin. 1 day
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