Teen domestic worker’s remains exhumed on July 30; special medical team to conduct 2nd postmortem
Posted on July 28th, 2021
Courtesy Adaderana
A three-member specialist medical team has been appointed to carry out the second postmortem of the teenage domestic worker who died while serving at the residence of MP Rishad Bathiudeen.
The team had been named by the Director-General of Health on the recommendations of the Attorney General, Police Media Spokesperson Senior DIG Ajith Rohana said.
The medical team includes Dr. Jean Perera, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Colombo, Dr. Sameera Gunawardena, Head and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Forensic Medicine under Faculty of Medicine in University of Colombo, and Judicial Medical Officer Dr. Prabhath Senasinghe, Specialist in Forensic Medicine, Peradeniya Teaching Hospital.
The team will lead the exhumation of the deceased girl’s body on Friday (July 30) at the Dayagama Cemetery. It will be carried out under the supervision magistrate of the area.
On July 15, a 16-year-old girl, who was serving as domestic help at the Bathiudeen residence, succumbed to severe burn injuries while receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital. She had been under medical care for 12 days since her admission to the hospital on July 03.
The girl, who was residing in the Dayagama area, had been 15 years of age when she was brought to the parliamentarian’s residence at Bauddhaloka Mawatha for domestic work last October.
The judicial medical officer who conducted the post-mortem on the girl’s death concluded that she had been sexually exploited.
Thereby, the former minister’s wife, father-in-law, and the middleman in question were taken into custody on July 23 based on the testimonies recorded from nearly 20 individuals, autopsy results, and the evidence gathered by the investigating officers which pointed to the fact that the deceased girl was subjected to abuse.
In addition, the 44-year-old brother-in-law of MP Bathiudeen was also taken into custody and produced before the Judicial Medical Officer for allegedly sexually abusing a young woman who worked as a domestic helper at the lawmaker’s official residence from 2015 to 2019.