Spree of brutal killings and suicides: what is the cause?

21 December 2011 08:14 am

Last Saturday night, a family of four, including three women, were hacked to death inside their house in the Katiyawa area in Eppawala. This was not the first such incident reported in the recent past.

The tendency for brutal killings has risen as suspects do not fear the prevailing laws or the police. According to many reports and analysis, lack of capital punishment has led people to commit such crimes: criminals are certain that if they are apprehended, tried and sent to jail they can soon be free, after serving a few years of their sentence. The threat of imprisonment does not curtail persons who act in a sudden fit of rage or carry out planned assassinations.

Thus, it is apparent that people are motivated to commit such crimes due to the lack of strong laws. But implementing capital punishment is not the only solution to prevent these incidents.
During investigations on the Eppawala incident it was revealed that a long standing land dispute had led to the tragic incident. The suspect was found to be the youngest brother of Malini and Seetha who were also slashed to death with an axe. He surrendered to the police through his lawyer on Sunday morning.The victims were identified as Seetha Hemalatha (55), Malini Hemalatha (49), Niluka Pathirana (23) and Madushanka Perera (23).
Last week, also in Eppawala, three persons including two school girls committed suicide along with a 27-year-old youth who was reported to be the lover of the eldest girl as the family had objected to their affair.
Police said that the lovers were close relatives and that had led to many disputes within the family. They were found hanging in a tree in the backyard of the house by villagers.
On June 14 last year, once again in Eppawala a family consisting of two children and their parents were found hacked to death at their residence. According to the police the bodies were recovered after neighbours complained of a strong stench emanating from the house. The killing was reported from Sandaresgama in the Eppawala-Thalawa main road.

No matter the number of steps taken by the police against the suspects these incidents cannot be reduced. Most of the suspects who were involved in these tragedies were ex-cadres of armed forces who are well trained and comfortable with the use of weapons.  Individuals trained in the use of weaponry have a very different psyche to regular criminals. 

It is hard to restraint a man who acts on intuition, emotion or a sudden fit of rage. One significant pattern in the recent murders has been that these incidents have been a result of sudden or systematic aggravation and not pre-meditated acts of revenge.
Suicide is distinct in its workings and in certain cases can be prevented if proper attention is given to those in distress. Systematic depression, long standing feuds, loss of reasoning, loss of self-confidence and loss of self-satisfaction together with instant provocation can be seen as major factors that influence suicide. Comprehensive counselling is a need of the hour that will enable many youths to overcome such brutal actions.

The factors for suicide mainly results due to love affairs and examination failures among the youth and this is directly due to the attitudes of society at large upon the actions of the victim. Society would hardly ever look at a girl who is pregnant out of wedlock with the same eyes and would reprimand her, it is this sort of attitudinal problem that exists within the society that directly results in suicide. 

An ideology should be created from the society to meditate and educate youths to overcome these unfortunate incidents. Violence is not the answer to solve disputes or animosities. Instead the younger generation should be given the proper education required to overcome and avoid the path of violence.

Important amendments should be incorporated into the educational curricular and also in to the university system to educate the young generation. Psychiatrics will have to play a vital role to prevent these unfortunate incidents.