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Little does underworld figure Ganemulle Sanjeewa realise, as he steps down from the prison’s Black Maria at the entrance of Hulftsdorp’s Chief Magistrate Court to walk with prison guards toward Court No. 5, that they will be the last mortal steps he will be taking on earth.

As blindfolded Justicia takes her due place on the judicial bench in courtroom 5, little does she foresee that the hallowed sanctity pervading the air where justice resides to sit on judgement will soon become the scene of slaughter of the presumed innocent. That Death, disguised in a lawyer’s garb and armed with a smuggled weapon, will steal from court a crime suspect who had taken refuge in the law’s protection. That the killer has left the inviolate judicial edifice with its sanctity invaded and dripping in blood; and has left national security outraged.

GANEMULLE SANJEEVA: Steps down from the Black Maria

And what’s the official response to murder most foul in the judicial courthouse?

Public Security Minister Wijepala says in Parliament, “These are incidents that have been repeatedly occurring due to clashes related to underworld activities and organised criminals. Such incidents have been reported for a long time in this country. This isolated incident should not be considered a threat to national security.”

Is it no threat? Can this be casually brushed off as a wayside killing by hitmen on bikes or a gangland killing inside a tea kiosk down south?

This happens in the heart of Hulftsdorp’s judicial complex, when a notorious criminal suspect is fatally shot dead, not while he is being led to the court premises by a heavy police guard, not while he is within the police-protected building under personal police watch, but right inside a courtroom in session with the magistrate on the bench, while he is in the dock.

Isolated incident? No threat to national security? Perhaps, the police minister should have taken a bench and chair and attended the tuition class given by the present deputy defence minister, who once said in a video message before the elections, “Ask them to come with a bench and a chair, and we’ll give tuition on national security. What is national security?”

Suspected drug peddler Sanjeewa Kumara Samararatne, alias “Ganemulle Sanjeewa, who had fled abroad, was arrested at the Colombo Airport on September 13, 2023, on his return from Nepal. Police had initially obtained a 90-day detention order against him under PTA. He was moved to Boossa Prison in June last year on the orders of the Gampaha Magistrate’s Court and on Wednesday morning was brought to the bar of a Hulftsdorp court to face justice, not to meet underworld retribution.

In the aftermath of the killing in court that shocked the nation, video footage shows an STF jeep drawing up near the Chief Magistrate Court’s entrance, which is quickly cordoned off by STF guards. A prison bus arrives seconds later. From the Black Maria, underworld’s Ganemulle Sanjeewa steps down and walks through the gates, flanked by police on either side, toward the court building.

THE KILLER: Posing as a lawyer, fires five fatal gun shots

CCTV footage shows a young man in a black suit and black tie—dress code of male lawyers in court—walking inside the court building. He is seen carrying a black book and stops near a glass door for no apparent reason. The next time CCTV footage shows him is when he leaves the building. He’s seen walking out of the entrance gates and fast disappearing behind a bus in the manner of a lawyer homebound after a day’s court work, with nothing in gait or pace to arouse any suspicion.

Court CCTV cameras also capture a young woman in a white saree with black designs and a black jacket, carrying a load of files and books. She gives the impression of being either a busy lawyer or a junior carrying her senior’s reference books. It later emerges that the killer’s gun was carried by her to court, concealed in a carved-out hollow of the book she was bearing in her hand.

Following the killing in open court, questions are asked from the police media spokesman at the evening press briefing what were the STF and the police doing while the suspect in their charge was being sent to meet his maker in a first-floor courtroom.

Were there lapses on their part? Security loopholes in the system that enabled an assassin, masquerading as a lawyer, to effortlessly slip through police entry points and infiltrate a judge’s court and take his seat amongst the lawyers and be in a vantage position to bump off anyone he wished in court, including the presiding judge? Or a rival lawyer? Or a witness about to squeal? Or even a member of the public?

The police media spokesman replied frankly. He said, “We do not body search judges or lawyers.”

That’s amazing. Didn’t it strike any security chief that even as all are equal before the law, all must equally be subject to body checks for their own good and protection?

But the police media spokesman hastened to say the situation will soon be corrected. He said, “We intend to hold talks in the future with the Bar Association and other relevant authorities.”

LAST MOMENTS: Shot and left to die inside the court dock

What, intend to hold talks? Do the police think that any would-be assassin would await till talks are held and loopholes closed to strike again? And would any lawyer and judge be so foolish as to value the dignity of his personage more than he values his life? And can any lawyer or judge object when the lives of each and every member of the public visiting the courts are at risk?

With the security floodgates open for any lawyer or judge to enter courts unsearched and unchecked for offensive weapons, Wednesday’s shocking courtroom killing, where an imposter posing as a lawyer, who had entered the premises without being searched at the gates, fired five fatal gunshots directly at the heart of a suspect in the court dock, vividly shows that any fake lawyer or even a genuine one, for that matter, can blow up a court and its occupants for any insidious reason at his whim and caprice.

The police need not wait to seek the approval of the Bar Association. Their foremost duty is to protect the lives of the public, not safeguard the privileges of the robed. No sane lawyer or judge will disagree. Not even the US President can countermand his security expert’s order. If the security chief obeys the President’s counter order, he’ll be charged with dereliction of duty for exposing the President to danger and placing his life at risk.

The police should no longer tarry but take immediate steps to strengthen security at the courts. And, perhaps, the Deputy Police Minister Sunil Watagala should have remained more gainfully occupied at his desk, probing lapses and loopholes and fixing them and finding new ones to fix, rather than arriving before the Chief Magistrate’s Court to become the hero of the moment.

He cut a sorry figure when, instead of answering reporters’ questions on how he intends to strengthen national security, he ended up searching for his ministerial vehicle, shouting on the phone to his driver, “Where’s my car? Where’s my car? Bring it here! Bring it here!” until, when the car didn’t appear, he shouted in exasperation to his driver, “Buruwo vareng,” or “Donkey, come here.”

Some ministers have said they accept the responsibility for the courtroom killing of a suspect in police custody, but what price responsibility when the man is dead? It is as meaningless and futile as the Ports Minister accepts responsibility for 323 red-flagged containers released by port authorities without the mandatory manual inspection from the Colombo Port, which have since disappeared from the face of Lanka, with none having the foggiest as to what legal or illegal goods they may have originally contained.

THE LAST JOURNEY: Carried in the STF jeep

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