Family massacred in own home threw birthday party for alleged killer days before
A family who were slaughtered in a stabbing spree in their own home had thrown a birthday party for their alleged killer just days before the horrifying attack, according to a religious leader who knew them.
A mother, her four children and a family acquaintance were all killed in a mass knife attack in a suburb of Ottowa, Canada, on Wednesday. Only the father of the family survived.
The suspect behind the heinous murders is a 19-year-old student who was living with the Sri Lankan family while studying overseas. Febrio De-Zoysa, who is also a Sri Lankan national, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in what police have described as a "senseless act of violence".
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Police were called to the home in Ottowa, Canada on Wednesday night (Radio-Canada)The victims include Darshani Ekanyake, 35, her seven-year-old son, Inuka Wickramasinghe, and her three daughters: Ashwini, four, Rinyana two and a two-and-a-half-month-old baby, Kelly. Amarakoonmubiayansela Ge Gemini Amarakoon, a family friend, was also found dead.
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The father, Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, was found with serious injuries but is now in a stable condition in hospital, according to Ottowa police. Bhante Suneetha, a resident monk at the local Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Monastery, which the family were regular attendees of, said he visited the dad in hospital while he was receiving treatment and spoke with him about the alleged killer.
Suneetha says the father said there were no problems between the suspect and the family (Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock)The monk said Dhanushka recalled nothing seemed "wrong" in the lead-up to the savage rampage. Bhante told The Canadian Press: “They [even] helped him to celebrate. They organized a celebration of his nineteenth birthday last week, a few days ago."
Police were called to a home in Barrhaven on Wednesday night and found the bodies of the mum, her four young children and the family friend after the vicious attack.
Bhante said the father told him during his hospital visit that there had been no problems between the family and De-Zoysa before the attack. The suspect had moved into the family's basement to finish his studies in Ottowa, and the father had even reportedly met his parents in Sri Lanka.
Police were called to a home on Wednesday night and found the bodies of the mother and her four children after the vicious attack (Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock)De-Zoysa had, however, been struggling with his studies and had become suicidal, according to the father. Bhante said that instead of killing himself he "killed someone else".
Recounting what the father told him, the monk said Dhanushka was coming home from work - a cleaning job - late Wednesday night and claims De-Zoysa suddenly attacked him out of nowhere. The dad alleged the student "hit him and stabbed him" after he opened the door to his home.
Six people died in the attack, including the mother, her four children and a family friend (Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock)The father said he managed to fend De-Zoysa off and asked the suspect if he had hurt his family. De-Zoysa said he hadn't but when the father broke free of the alleged attacker he said he went to his kids but they were "gone".
Bhante described the father as having a lot of injuries. Two of his fingers had been partially cut off, he had a slash across his face between his nose and eyes and stab wounds on his back and chest.
The monk said he knew the family well after they started attending the monastery when they moved to Canada after the Covid pandemic had started. Their seven-year-old son had started religious classes there just last week.
Ottawa police confirmed the homicides are considered to be the worst mass killings in the city's recent history. Addressing the tragedy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "Obviously our first reactions are all ones of shock and horror at this terrible violence. We are expecting that the community reaches out to support family and friends as Canadians always do, and we expect the police of jurisdiction to be doing the work and keeping us all informed of this terrible tragedy."
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