A 26-year-old pregnant woman has died after being attacked with a sharp weapon in the Palakudawa area of Kalpitiya, and a 36-year-old man has been arrested, police said.
The woman was injured in the attack on Thursday afternoon and was admitted to the Kalpitiya Hospital, where she later died of her injuries, Ada Derana reported. NewsFirst carried the same account, describing the victim as a resident of Palakudawa. Neither outlet named her.
Kalpitiya Police are conducting further investigations.
What police say about the circumstances
Ada Derana is the only outlet to report a motive. Citing preliminary investigations, it said the victim had separated from her husband and was living with another man, and that the man attacked her with a sharp weapon after a family dispute escalated.
NewsFirst’s report carries no account of the relationship between the victim and the person arrested, and describes only the attack, the hospital admission and the arrest. Police have not stated publicly whether the 36-year-old in custody is the man Ada Derana describes, though the two accounts are consistent with one another.
What has not been reported
Neither outlet has said how far advanced the pregnancy was, or whether the unborn child survived — a point that ordinarily bears on the charges brought in cases of this kind.
Nor has either report said when the suspect will be produced before a magistrate, on what charge he was arrested, whether a post-mortem examination has been ordered, or whether any complaint had previously been made to police about the dispute.
