Abstract
Introduction: From 2010-2011, several murders of beggars were reported from Colombo and suburb. The motive of such killings was not obvious and some parties suspected an attack targeting beggars by an organized group. Objective: To analyse the medico-legal aspects of the series of killing. Methods: Data of beggars who had been killed, serially, under similar circumstances in Colombo and suburbs were collected from January 2010 to December 2011. Results: There were 14 murders (12 males) in 9 towns. The bodies were left on the location of killing without being moved. The causes of death had been blunt force trauma to head. No suspects were arrested. Sole eye witness confirmed the presence of ‘rituals’ and ‘cooling-off period’ in suspect. In November 2011, a beggar was arrested while attempting to kill another beggar when the latter was a sleep. The suspect was produced for medico-legal examination and later referred to a Psychiatrist. He was diagnosed to have anti-social traits. On a subsequent day, he admitted that he had murdered altogether 14 beggars. He had shown all the crime scenes to the investigators. He was sent for inward psychiatric treatment and is awaiting trial. Conclusions: Usually serial killers are males with past criminal records who kill strangers, perform ‘rituals’, leave ‘signature’, display the dead bodies and remove souvenirs. All above characteristics except the last two were evident in this case. Fourteen independent, planned murders with potential “cooling-off periods” indicate that the suspect could be the highest 'potential serial killer' in Sri Lanka. The importance of the establishment of a National Criminal Investigating Centre is suggested to investigate such unsolved crimes. Galle Medical Journal, Vol 18: No. 2, September 2013;Page 17-21 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/gmj.v18i2.6196
Highlights
From 2010-2011, several murders of beggars were reported from Colombo and suburb
Autopsy was done on 10th April 2010 and the cause of death (COD) was blunt force trauma to head. 2nd murder - A female beggar was found dead at Kotahena with head injuries
Autopsy was done on 13th of April 2010 and the COD was blunt force trauma to the head. 3rd male beggar was found murdered at Kotahena on the 1st of May 2010 and the 4th male beggar was found murdered at Slave Island on the 13th of May 2010
Summary
From 2010-2011, several murders of beggars were reported from Colombo and suburb. The most practical definition of a serial murder is three or more independent, planned murders committed by the same individual or individuals, and separated by a “cooling-off” period (1) According to this definition, it is the “cooling-off” period that separates serial killers from other types of multiple murderers (1). From 2010 - 2011, a series of beggars were found to have been killed with head injuries, on the pavements of Colombo city and suburbs. General public were thoroughly disturbed by the reports in the media. Some believed that this was an attempt to eliminate beggars from the Colombo city. This study analysed the medico-legal aspects of this series of killings to determine the nature and characteristics of the killer
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