Police uncover attempt to hide murder as Covid death : Husband arrested

September 22, 2021 at 4:19 PM

A businessman has been arrested by the Boralesgamuwa Police for murdering his Covid-infected wife in order to inherit her property.

According to the Police, the man is said to have murdered his wife on her bed, while the Maharagama Police have seized a half-burnt pillow and bed sheets used in the murder.

The victim has been identified as a 45-year-old woman, a resident of Boralesgamuwa, and a mother of a 13-year-old boy and a 06-year-old daughter.

The woman had been murdered by her husband while receiving treatment at home for the coronavirus.

The Police said the husband is reported to have informed the wife’s brother at 10 pm on Wednesday (15) that she had died in her sleep.

Upon the body of the woman being handed over to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, she was pronounced dead.

However, following the suspicious behaviour of the husband and repeated attempts to cover a scratch wound on his neck, the brother of the woman had filed a complaint with the Police to investigate the death.

A postmortem examination conducted by the Colombo South Hospital on an order from the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court had revealed that the woman had died due to asphyxia by tightly covering the nose and mouth.

Further investigations had led to the arrest of the husband of the victim, while it was also found that the man had murdered his wife in order to inherit her property and marry another woman. (NewsWire)