“THE MINISTER’S CALL”

by Desmond Kelly the “Star of eLanka”

This is presently very much in the “news” on television at the moment, but for those of you who are not aware of it, “I say what I mean,& mean what I say”.
This tragic drama occured in Geraldton, a little mid-west town of Perth,Western Australia, in 2014, and what should have been a “true-life” love story, ended as a “true-death” sentence for this young male doctor (Athukorale), who was bludgeoned to death, (as he slept), by his Sri Lankan wife, (Liyanage), also a doctor. and quite a popular one, in Geraldton too, I believe.

Two young people with everything to live for, “obviously” in love, but covertly in a marriage that was fraught with abuse both physically & psychologically, , suffered by Chamari Liyanage,at the hands of Dinendra Athukorale, her husband,(it has to be noted by non Sri Lankans that keeping their individual surnames even after marriage, is common practice in Lanka),who,according to the lawyers defending Chamari, was not satisfied with the sexual relationship with his wife and was heavily involved with various pornography, forcing an anxiety-smitten woman into lewd acts with other women & children, waking her up in the early hours to sift through “hard-porn”, abusing her physically to the extent where she would try to cover the scars & tell-tale marks on her body with the clothes she wore to work, if ever she refused the more “impossible” acts of wanton sexual practices or cruelty expected of her. The “Country-Music” Star of my era was a man by the name of Gene Autry. I will never forget one of his songs titled “The Last Straw”.

The final line of this song says “it was the last straw, that almost broke the poor old camel’s back”. It was indeed the last straw, as far as Chamari Liyanage was concerned. I am no psychologist, but one does not need to be Dr.Albert Einstein to realize that after an extended period of unbelievable stress, someone like this young female would grab any heavy object available and bludgeon a sleeping man to death.She could not take it any more, and quite possibly, as she said in Court, she did this without even realizing that she was, in fact, committing a crime. The prosecution lawyers pointed out that because she was a doctor, she would know exactly where to “strike”, in order to kill her man. This woman was fear-stricken to the point where she more possibly struck him at the only time when he could not defend himself. I cannot imagine that she stood there, over him, trying to figure out at exactly which point of his skull she should hit him,in order to kill him. What absolute nonsense, but prosecutors prosecute and, this time, the defenders failed to defend, the law being the law, Dr.Chamari Liyanage, still an immigrant, was convicted of man-slaughter & jailed for four years due to be released shortly and deported back to Sri Lanka post-haste.

Both these Lankan Doctors did their jobs well in Western Australia. Both were well-liked by their patients. One is dead because, even,being a doctor, he could not keep his sexual-drive in check. He might well have been a good doctor medically, but, according to the “Court-case”, was a rotten husband. a paedophile, an abuser of women(mainly his wife), and, in most other Countries, would have copped a very heavy penalty if his nefarious activities were exposed. In Australia, there is no “death-penalty” but Dr.Dinendra Athukorale died unnecessarilly, BUT “thru his own fault”. He copped the “last straw” which not only broke his back, it killed him.

My plea to Minister Dutton is this. Chamira Liyanage committed a serious crime. It was adjudged manslaughter. There was a possibility that, however small, there was a quota of uncertainty as to the reason for this tragic crime. It is certain, however, that
Chamira Liyanage is’nt a threat to anyone else in W.A., as a matter of fact, it is the opposite. She is respected and well-liked by her patients & neighbours. My sincere condolences to the Athukorale family & friends but what had to happen, did, and we have to let it rest there. Dr.Chamira Liyanage is totally unknown to me but I do ask Minister Dutton to reconsider his order of deportation and give her another chance to pick up the pieces and be what she truly is ( according to what her patients concur, anyway), a medical asset to this Country. If she has to go back to Lanka in disgrace, she may be subjected to more hate & trauma & I do feel that she has suffered enough

“She’s done a crime, she’s done her time,
Because it’s so, give her a go! “

Desmond Kelly.
Star of eLanka”.