• Victim is a Grade 8 student at a school in Lunugala 

By Prasad Rukmal  

The kapuwa (lay priest) of Paththini Devale in the Lunugala area of the  Badulla District who allegedly impregnated a 14-year-old schoolgirl  by raping her under the pretext of performing rites to dispel the  malefic effects of a ghost haunting her was taken into custody by  Lunugala Police.   The 30-year-old priest was a resident of Namunukula area. Police said the victim was a Grade 8 student at a school in Lunugala. Investigations revealed that she with her father, her twin  brothers about 16 years of age and her grandmother were living in a line  house on a tea estate. Her grandmother told police that the girl  developed an abnormal mental condition and that the priest told them  that she was haunted by a spirit and undertook to dispel it.   

The Pusari who visited their house had taken the girl into a  room and told others in the household that the rites would be performed  within the closed doors. Police said he had raped the girl for several  days under the pretext of curing her disease.  

Her parents had understood that the priest had raped her, only when a doctor who examined her, confirmed her pregnancy.  

SI Edirisinghe is conducting further investigations on the  instructions of OIC Lunugala Police CI Priyantha Kumara Chandrasekara,  SP Buddhika Gunasekara and SSP Wasantha Kandewatta.