Death of a judge

Controversy continues even after former Supreme Court Judge Sarath de Abrew dies after falling off the balcony 

Former Supreme Court Judge Sarath de Abrew succumbed to his injuries after falling off the balcony of the second floor of his residence in Ratmalana on Monday.   

His remains were  taken to his residence in Ratmalana and the funeral was held yesterday.   

Neighbours state that his house was usually very turbulent and noisy, that the house was in uproar all the time and that they did not notice anything unusual on Monday (August 15, 2016) when he fell off the balcony.   

There have been many allegations of sexual abuse against him and neighbours claim that he was notorious for violence against female domestic aids that he employed.   

When the Daily Mirror explored the crime scene we found that he had fallen face-down, and there was a huge blood stain and a cigarette lighter on the cobblestones below the balcony.   

He had been taken to the Kalubowila Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The autopsy was conducted on Tuesday and JMO Rajendran Danusha gave an open verdict as the Government Analyst had to investigate further.  

A law suit was filed against de Abrew for allegedly committing grave sexual abuse on a domestic aide with Counsel Nimal Weerakkody appearing on behalf of him. On May 23, 2016 Abrew was indicted in the Mt. Lavinia High Court.   

“Sarath de Abrew was under a lot of pressure as there were many cases against him, especially regarding the case where he was accused of sexually abusing one of his domestic workers. However, he was never convicted of any of the charges against him,” a neighbour said.  

A priest was giving tuition to two O/L children at the temple in the neighbourhood when the incident had taken place.   

He thought it was a usual fight scene that he normally heard next door, so he continued his lessons with the students.   

The Supreme Court judge had many problems with the temple as well.  He had wanted the temple to break its wall and give way so that he could enlarge his block of land.   

One neighbour also said that Abrew had threatened the priests with his pistol and used to make a great hullabaloo in the premises.   

“No one could stop him because he was a judge and he believed he was above the law,” the neighbour said.   

However, a priest said that Sarath eventually apologised and regretted his actions. He refused to give a further comment saying that the former Supreme Court Judge was dead and there was no point in bringing his story to the forefront.  “It’s always a noisy house. Even in the morning there was so much noise that when the incident took place we didn’t realise that he had fallen and was dead.  

“None of the neighbours was in good terms with him and when the maid asked for help no neighbour came to his rescue initially,” said Sagara, a resident.   

“This is a public road and he closed the gates to it, barring all of us from entering it. Even after a court order he refused to open it. The former regime covered up his activities. It is alleged that he had raped six of his maids. His house builder says the judge owed him Rs. 2 mn,”.

He informed us that his wife was mentally unstable. The former judge made his official visits with a mistress, who also lived with him.   

Another neighbour claimed that Abrew acted on impulse, was quick tempered and as a result committed grave offences.   The case in regards to his death will be heard in the main Magistrate’s Court in Mount Lavinia on August 22.