The 19-year-old Sri Lankan national charged in the mass killing of a newcomer family in Ottawa has no plan to seek bail, his lawyer says.

Febrio De-Zoysa was arrested and charged in early March with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, after police found the family dead in a townhouse in the suburb of Barrhaven.

He remains in custody, and his lawyer Ewan Lyttle told The Canadian Press “there is presently no plan to apply for bail.”

De-Zoysa, who was studying in Canada as an international student, is set to return to court next week where lawyers expect to set dates for a preliminary inquiry in his case.

Investigators allege the young man is responsible for the deaths of 35-year-old Darshani Ekanayake and her four children, who were between the ages of two months and seven years old, as well as a family friend.

They believe the family was attacked with a knife or “other edged weapon.”

As neighbours and Ottawa residents learned the first details of the gruesome crime, staff at Algonquin College in Ottawa were investigating the possible connections to the school.

The college’s president asked his staff to look into it after Ottawa police Chief Eric Stubbs revealed at a press conference that De-Zoysa was an international student.

“Do we know where the suspect was studying?,” Claude Brule wrote in an email to a colleague that afternoon.

The Canadian Press obtained the emails through a freedom-of-information request.

“He last attended classes in January of 2023,” another member of the Algonquin College staff wrote back several hours later.

The next day, Bruce Hickey, the college’s communication manager, said they had asked a colleague “to run the names of the two adult deceased from Barrhaven through our system.”

The exact program De-Zoysa was registered for was redacted in the documents, as was most other personal information like his addresses, birthdate and student number.

In a statement on Thursday, Hickey said the emails show the work college staff did to respond to the “many media requests” about the tragedy.

He did not respond to questions about why the school searched the name of the adult victims or whether the school has been in touch with investigators about the information they found.

The emails show that several members of the media, including The Canadian Press, pressed the college for more information in the immediate aftermath of the killings.

In one email, Hickey said “we’re still holding on our original lines. Pulling in as much detail as I can on this (college’s) connections today. Will keep you posted.”

Emails show how the school was also dealing with international media attention.

“Had to send this one your way … the requests just keep coming … from everywhere,” Hickey wrote when an NBC News reporter in Los Angeles inquired about De-Zoysa.

“Really?” one member of the staff responded. “Los Angeles??”

All the victims found in the townhome except the youngest child were Sri Lankan nationals who arrived in the city within the past several years.

The family friend, 40-year-old Gamini Amarakoon Amarakoon Mudiyanselage, had a wife and two children living in Sri Lanka, according to leaders at a Buddhist temple the family attended.

Police say De-Zoysa had been living at the family’s rented townhouse, and a monk at the temple said the young man had been struggling mentally.

The sole survivor of the alleged attack was Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, the family’s father and husband, who was taken to hospital with injuries to his hands and face.

He has since been released and requested privacy as he mourns the loss of his family.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has called the killings “one of the most shocking incidents of violence” in the city’s history. (Canadian Press)

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Some 200 people showed up at a public multi-faith funeral service in Ottawa Sunday to mourn the six Sri Lankans killed more than a week ago in the city’s Barrhaven suburb.

Organized by the Buddhist Congress of Canada (BCC), the service at the Infinity Convention Centre paid tribute to the victims: a family of newcomers to Canada from Sri Lanka and their friend.

According to police, four children and two adults were killed inside a suburban townhouse in south Ottawa on March 6.

Darshani Dilanthika Ekanayake, 35, was killed along with her three daughters — three-year-old Ranaya, four-year-old Ashwini, and two-month-old Kelly — and her seven-year-old son Inuka.

The body of a family friend, 40-year-old Gamini Amarakoon, who’d recently arrived in Canada from Sri Lanka, was also found at the scene.

Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, the family’s father, survived the attack. He was injured with an edged weapon and taken to hospital.

Buddhist monks from Toronto and Ottawa led prayers and performed traditional funeral customs at Sunday’s service.

They also thanked Ottawa’s first responders for their work.

Wickramasinghe was in attendance, but did not deliver any remarks or speak to media.

Instead, he issued a statement afterward in which he thanked various groups — including first responders, the hospital, the BCC and the wider Sri Lankan community — for helping him deal with the “shock and chaos” in the wake of the killings.

He also said he was “devastated and torn” by the deaths of his wife, children and good friend.

“This tragedy has shaken me and my family deeply … I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the public for their thoughts and prayers as I navigate through the aftermath of this tragedy,” he wrote.

In a video message played at the funeral, Dishani Asangika Fernando, Amarakoon’s wife, thanked him for being “a lovely husband [and] an amazing father all the time.”

“I have a lot to tell, but right now I am speechless,” she said. 

“You [came here] to give a good future for our kids. But all our dreams just faded away in a way we never thought of.”

Several Canadian dignitaries spoke at the funeral, including Liberal MPs Gary Anandasangaree and Chandra Arya, Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod and Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.

“I want you to know your community is with you,” Sutcliffe told the victims’ families. “We must pull together as a community in a time like this.

“There are more difficult days ahead. This will be an unimaginable time for these families in the days and weeks and months ahead … we will honour the memories of your family members.”

Suspect in protective custody, lawyer says

Febrio De-Zoysa, 19, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

De-Zoysa was living with the family when he allegedly killed them late at night. He was also a former student at Algonquin College.

His lawyer, Ewan Lyttle, told reporters on Thursday that De-Zoysa is in protective custody due to the seriousness of the charges against him.

Lyttle said Thursday it was too early to talk about a mental health assessment.

None of the charges against De-Zoysa have been proven and court has not heard any evidence surrounding the circumstances of the crimes.

De-Zoysa is expected back in court on March 28. (CBC)

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Details have emerged on the 19-year-old boy of Sri Lankan origin behind the mass stabbing of a Sri Lankan family in Ottawa, Canada, with reports claiming that he was acquainted with the victims.

The suspect, identified as Febrio de-Zoysa, has been charged with murder over the incident reported late on Wednesday, which was described as a ‘terrible tragedy’ by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

The victims were a woman (35) and her four young children aged between 4 years and 2 ½ months, and her female friend. The woman’s husband who sustained serious injuries is hospitalised and in stable condition.

According to Canadian Police officials, de-Zoysa had been living with the victims for quite some time, while they had also celebrated his 19th birthday a few days ago. 

The suspect has no prior criminal records and was living in Canada after arriving to pursue his education. 

A monk from the Buddhist monastery attended by the victims and a friend of the father who survived the attack said his friend had disclosed that nothing seemed wrong leading to the rampage.

The monk further revealed that according to his friend, there had been no issues between the family and de-Zoysa.

The teenager had recently moved into their basement to pursue his education in Ottawa, while the victims had also met his parents while in Sri Lanka.

However, the monk said, his friend had disclosed that de-Zoysa was facing problems in school and had recently become suicidal. 

His friend had also revealed that the suspect had attacked his family and had thereafter, attacked him the moment he had returned home after a cleaning job.

Febrio de-Zoysa has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. 

His next court appearance is fixed for March 14, 2024. (NewsWire/ foreign media)

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