Lance Corporal R. Dewage Somaratne Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan soldier who was sentenced to death for the gang-rape and murder of Krishanti Kumaraswamy and three others.
[3] At 3pm on 7 September 1996, as Krishanti was returning home after sitting an examination, she was arrested by Corporal Rajapaksa at the army checkpoint on the Jaffna-Kandy Highway at Kaithady.
[4][5] Rajapaksa tied Krishanti's hands together and then he and two other soldiers, W. A. W. Alwis and D. M. Jayathilake, pushed her into a bunker as she screamed.
[5] That night Rajapaksa and three other soldiers (A. S. P. Perera, D. M. Jayathilake and D. V. I. Kumara) took Pranavan and Kirupakaran to Chemmani saltern.
Then R. J. M. Jayasinghe, G. P. Priyadarshana, A. S. P. Perera, D. V. I. Kumara, D. M. Jayathilake and Abdul Hameed Nazar raped Krishanti in turn.
[7] Two others were charged later, taking the total to nine (Lance Corporal R. Dewage Somaratne Rajapaksa, Rajapaksa Jayasinghe Mudiyanselage Jayasinghe, Reserve Police Constable Gunasekerage Pradeep Priyadarshana, Ambawattage Suranji Priyantha Perera, Waduwantrige Arnan Wijayananda Alwis, Dehigaspitiye Gedara Muthu Banda, Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayathilake, Lance Corporal Diyapatugama Vidanalage Indrajith Kumara and Abeysekera Pathiranalage Nishantha).
Two police officers (P. A. Samarawickrema and Abdul Hameed Nazar) who helped dispose of the bodies were given immunity in return for testifying against the nine charged.
[4] The court case against eight soldiers (Somaratne Rajapaksa, R. J. M. Jayasinghe, A. S. P. Perera, W. A. W. Alwis, D. G. Muthu Banda, D. M. Jayathilake, D. V. I. Kumara and A. P. Nishantha) and a policeman (G. P. Priyadarshana) for the rape and murder of Krishanti and murders of Rassammah, Pranavan and Kirupakaran in Chemmani on or around 7 September 1996 began on 18 November 1996 at the Colombo High Court.
In a long statement Rajapaksa alleged that there had been widespread detention, torture and murder of civilians who had been rounded up for questioning by the army.
[1] Rajapaksa refused to sign the statement and was attacked by prison guards on 23 August 1998, sustaining injuries to his mouth, below his left eye and to his chest.
You are also hereby informed that if he takes any action in this matter his wife, children and other members of his family should get ready to pay a big price by sacrificing their lives.
Be that as it may, it appears that an inquiry is to be held during the sixth month [sic] and if he shows them the "places" please note that all the members of the family will be murdered.