SL Embassy in Saudi seeks justice on maid’s murder, special team sent to investigate

From our Middle 

East Correspondent

Riyadh: The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh has sought justice from the Saudi authorities for its country’s maid who was murdered by a Saudi man.

The victim was 37-year-old Priyanthi Jaysekera and she was shot dead by her sponsor’s son in Buraidah, a township in the Al-Qassim region. The killer committed suicide following the incident.

Sri Lankan Ambassador in Riyadh Azmi Thassim told Daily FT that he has requested the local authorities to hold a full-fledged inquiry into the killing of the housemaid by the 30 year old son of the maid’s sponsor, who was suffering from mental illness. Thassim said that the victim had family back home and that they must be looked after. 

“If there are any others involved in the murder, they have to be identified,” the Ambassador insisted, pointing out that these maids mostly come from poor homes to earn sufficient funds to send back to Sri Lanka to keep their home fires burning.

The envoy said that he has sent a special team to Al-Qassim, some 400 kilometres from the Saudi capital to investigate this untimely death.

The remains are now lying at a hospital morgue in Al-Ras pending further legal procedures. 

Forensics teams and other experts visited the crime scene and collected evidence. The case has been referred to the concerned authorities said the envoy.

The ambassador said that the maid had come to Saudi for employment in a house in the Al-Qassim region in April last year and had not even completed a year. She was from the southern town of Galle the envoy said, adding that the team would explore chances to obtain compensation for the family of the deceased. 

The motive for the killing is yet to be established.

According to Qassim Police Spokesman Lt. Badar Assahabani, the 30-year-old Saudi man who killed the Lankan maid also shot himself with the same gun. Based on preliminary information, the killer was suffering from a psychological disorder. The killer had used a hunting rifle for the murder.