A suspect remanded over the brutal double murder of an elderly couple in the Hatton-Dickoya area has been re-arrested in Bogawantalawa, hours after he escaped from custody during a hospital transfer earlier on Wednesday.
The Department of Prisons said the suspect had been admitted to the Kandy National Hospital on Tuesday night after reportedly falling ill in remand custody. Early the next morning, he slipped away from the prison officers guarding him at the hospital, triggering an urgent police manhunt before he was traced and taken back into custody in the Bogawantalawa area.
The man had been arrested last Thursday over the killings. According to police, he allegedly murdered the couple to settle a debt before stealing jewellery belonging to the victims.
The case dates to the discovery of the elderly couple murdered at their Hatton-Dickoya shop, which prompted a CCTV-based public appeal for the suspect before his arrest. The escape from a guarded hospital ward is likely to raise fresh questions over custodial procedures for remand prisoners moved to medical facilities.
Update — May 28: The Police Media Division has since denied that the suspect was re-arrested in Bogawantalawa, saying he remains at large after escaping from the Kandy hospital.
