8 March 2021 12:00 am
By T. Farook Thajudeen
The marriage certificate of Jennifer Ingelton, the late beauty queen of 1962 whose death had occurred under suspicious circumstances according to her brother and relatives, was filed in Magistrate Court by her husband.
At the outset of the inquiry before Additional Magistrate Y. R. B. Nelumdeniya, Counsel Kanil Mathugama appearing on behalf of Jennifer’s husband, filed the marriage certificate and the Power of Attorney purported to have been signed by late Jennifer Ingelton.
Senior Counsel Ian Fernando who appeared for the complainant Tony Hawke, the aggrieved brother and for the relatives of late Jennifer Ingelton, told the Magistrate that the husband of Jennifer was not present for the case and underscored the fact that while the court had ordered him to file the number of the district Court testamentary case in the Magistrate Court, he had not come to court to file it and had not adhered the court order and ignored it.
Therefore, the Counsel moved court to order the husband to file the District Court case number on 27th April. He also moved court to order Colombo Fraud Bureau to check the reliability of the Marriage Certificate and the Power of Attorney tendered to court by her husband.
The Magistrate while fixing the case for inquiries for April 27, ordered the husband to file the District Court testamentary case number in court on that date.
According to Jennifer’s brother, she had been isolated from everyone she knew by vetting the visitors by her husband and also had intemidated and threatened anyone who wanted to meet Jennifer.
According to Hawke the brother, his attempt to rescue Jennifer from her alleged captor, had failed.
In March 2020 Hawke had written an open letter to the President, Prime Minister, the Inspector General of Police, the Women in Need Organisation and the Human Rights Commission pertaining to the issue.
On March 12, he had also written to the Sri Lankan High Commission in the UK, to communicate with the Sri Lankan Police on the allegation of forcible occupation of Jennifer’s property by her husband.