Daily NEWS Srilanka

The final verdict of the case relating to the murder of News Correspondent Mel Gunasekera at the hands of a person who came with the motive of robbery to a house in Rajagiriya 3 years back in the month of December, 2014 was pronounced today. As such, Samson Anthony George (42), a 'paint baas'  was found guilty on three counts of having made illegal entry to a premises, stealing a mobile phone and homicide and thus was sentenced to death.

The deceased News Correspondent was murdered quite unanticipatedly in her home at a time when

This assailant Samson Anthony George, was 42 years old and a father of 2 children. He was earning his income by engaging in labour-work and was a resident of Dompe area. It was about one and a half months before the murder that the suspect was engaged as a paint baas through connections of a friend of his for painting-work at News Correspondent Mel Gunasekera's home. Close upon the incident he had on and off for 3 days come to this house and engaged in paint-work and had also understood that people in this house belonged to the elite class because of the polythene-manufacturing workshop owned by Miss Mel Gunasekera's father Mr. Gunasekera which was situated in the adjoining piece of land.

He was accustomed to committing minor thefts from places where he used to go for painting-work. When he was getting ready to come there for paint-work on a Sunday and as people in the house would not be in the house that morning they had told him not to come that day. As he knew that they would be leaving to church around 6.15 in the morning, George had made plans to enter the said house at about 6.30 in the morning with the purpose of committing the robbery.

At the time he was scaling the wall to enter the premises though the dogs have barked, since he was familiar with them he was able to enter the house without any worry as such. There were 4 dogs in this house and since he had made himself familiar with them during days when he was engaged in paint-work there by patting them on the head and feeding them, it turned out to his advantage. As the door of the house was shut, as preplanned by him he managed to open the grill of a window of the room with the aid of a chisel and thus jumped inside. In fact what he had thought was that there was nobody in the house. However as Miss Mel was involved in some activity on the top floor she had not been aware at that time that a burglar was upto his tricks downstairs.

In the meantime George who was searching for something valuable in the room and had been moving across the hall with the hope of making a search in other rooms he happened to be confronted by Miss Mel who was coming towards the kitchen and that was face to face. Having understood that it was a burglar who had entered the house at a time that nobody was inside the house she had become bewildered and after having realised that he was none other than their 'paint baas' she had queried "what are you doing here?" in a surprised tone. Even at that moment Miss Mel noticed that there were certain items that he had robbed already in his possession.

In this instance George who dreaded that having been identified and getting caught red-handed and that he would be handed over to police, instantly had jumped towards her with the idea of killing her so that evidence about him could thus be destroyed. For this purpose he had rushed towards the kitchen and after arming himself with two pointed knives had dashed towards her and all what Miss Mel who became helpless could do was give out a shriek. Her yell ended up with her neck being severed and finally her life ebbing away.

Consequent to the incident George baas was scared in delaying there anymore for fear of unanticipated obstacles. His clothes too were soaked with her blood. After having picked up the deceased's valuable mobile phone fallen beside her had searched an almirah in the house for money. But he was able to find only a small sum of money amounting to Rs. 1200. Ultimately he had robbed some male clothing and a bag in that almirah for the reason that he was not in a position of leaving the house with blood-stained clothes. Finally he had decided to immediately flee from the house after packing the blood-stained clothing in the bag and dressing himself with the robbed clothes, all in secret.

Members in the house had of course come to know that a murder had occured in the house after they returned home from church. On seeing Miss Mel lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen had been shocked and had instantly notified police. Police who cordoned the house as a location of crime commenced investigations allowing only relatives to enter the house. Police dogs were used for this purpose and were able to track some suspected fingerprints.

A person in the neighbourhood had told police that someone yelling was heard at the said time but had not taken an interest about it later. The police took an interest to contact other houses in the vicinity and check their CCTV camera systems. When checking the CCTV system video of one house at the time when Miss Mel was in the house alone, it was able to detect how a person was approaching this house and how he was leaving the house in a short while.

After the police summoned residents of Mel's house to inquire whether the person seen on the video could be identified, a certain clue was secured in the process. What they had said was, "this is our paint baas no ..!" It was in that manner that the address of the paint baas hailing from Dompe who had been painting the house concerned for sometime, was secured by police.

George who was responsible for the homicide had set off to Hanwella from Battaramulla. When arriving in Dompe by bus darkness had already set in. He had had a good bout of alcohol by spending 500 from the Rs. 1200 in his possession and had walked back home as usual. He had taken the scene of this murder committed in the morning out of his mind. But by the time he returned home he was dumbfounded. The police who had surrounded his house were actually awaiting his arrival. On apprehending the criminal Miss Mel's Blackberry mobile phone too was found by police, thus confirming CCTV evidence.

The point as to why this 'bad baas' was cruel enough to commit a murder without understanding the value of a person, solely for the sake of financial necessity is a matter of conjecture. A lady Correspondent connected to activities on an international level with abundant experience leaving this world at an untold moment was lost to the country and it is indeed a cause of sorrow and shock. After these offences and crime of George Baas were found guilty he was sentenced to death by court today.