What happened at the Barrhaven killings, according to resident monk

Article content

Lying in a hospital bed nursing physical wounds and unimaginable mental trauma, Dhanushka Wickramasigne is trying to come to terms with the horrifying deaths of his young family and a good friend.

“He is still in the shock level,” said Bhanthe Sumanarathana, a friend and resident monk at the Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Monastery, who visited Wickramasigne on Thursday. “I can feel it when he’s talking. He has like a dizzy mind. He can’t imagine the things that happened. It’s like a dream to him.”

Article content

Article content

The biggest mass killing in Ottawa’s recent history occurred late Wednesday night at the Barrhaven townhouse the family was renting.

On Thursday, Ottawa police charged 19-year-old Febrio De-Zoysa with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Wickramasisgne lost his wife, Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake; seven-year-old son, Inuka; four-year-old daughter, Ashwini; three-year-old daughter Ranaya, and two-month-old daughter, Kelly; along with 40-year-old Gamini Amarakoon Amarakoon Mudiyanselage, a family friend.

De-Zoysa was also living with the family. Sumanarathana says the family was not charging him rent.

“They gave him accommodation free of charge. They helped him celebrate his 19th birthday. They bought him cake and had a lot of sympathy for him.”

Nothing could have prepared Wickramasinghe for what happened when he arrived home around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

According to Sumanarathana, Wickramasinghe told him “that guy was close to the garage door with a knife.”

Wickramasinghe asked about his family and was told everyone was safe upstairs.

Article content

Wickramasinghe had his doubts. “When he opened the door, the guy behind him hit him on the head and that’s where he got his cuts,” said Sumanarathana. “He went into the house and saw the bodies (of his family) and moved to the other room to check on his friend.”

Wickramasinghe, according to Sumanarathana, locked himself in a room and called 9-1-1. Police arrived at 10:52 p.m.

Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs said Friday that the investigation continues.

“We know there are a lot of questions about why this tragedy occurred, this is the focus of our Homicide Unit as they diligently investigate this tragic crime,” he said. “Our investigators are forensic teams are working very hard to determine all the facts and ensure justice is done.”

It’s all remarkably tragic for Wickramasinghe, who began his pursuit of the Canadian dream in the summer of 2021.

He left Kanty, a city of 130,000 in central Sri Lanka, coming to Ottawa on a student visa. Wickramasinghe, who had been working with a mobile phone company in Kanty, enrolled in marketing and management courses at Algonquin College.

Article content

He arrived without his young family, at first living in Gloucester.

“He’s a real nice person,” said Sumanarathana. “He’s very friendly and helpful. He comes to temple twice a week and sometimes we call him to help us with some things around here (at the monastery).”

He has two jobs, running his own small house cleaning company and serving as an Uber driver.

Last July, the family joined him in Ottawa, all of them moving into the townhouse on Berrigan Drive.

Inuka and Ashwini attended Mongisnor Paul Baxter School on Beatrice Drive, a five-minute walk from the house. The youngest daughter, Kelly, was born in Ottawa.

Halal Ahmed, a Barrhaven-based accountant, says Wickramasigne reached out to him in February to help him with his taxes.

“We’ve never met in person,” said Ahmed. “But we exchanged a number of emails, just making sure he had all the right paperwork. He owns the small business. He’s the sole proprietor.”

Ahmed says the whole story is “very disturbing.”

The Sri Lankan community in Ottawa is a close-knit group and it is banding together to provide as much help as possible.

“The family was very close to us,” said Sumanathana. “The Buddhist temple and the Sri Lanka High Commission are doing what we can to help those people. We’ve already organized a Go Fund Me to help fund the victims’ families.”

[email protected]
X: Citizenkwarren

Article content