Srimal Abeyewardene at the launch of his paper in Toronto. Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper awarding a certificate to Srimal.
By Somasiri Munasinghe
Veteran Sri Lankan journalist Srimal Christopher Abeyewardene who spent thirty years of his crime reporting career with the Times of Ceylon and Ceylon Daily News before migrating to Canada, passed away on August 3 morning, a week after celebrating his 79th birthday in Toronto.
He used his wide contacts in the police and security agencies to produce unique crime stories during his career. He rose to the top in his chosen field with the record of covering some of the most sensational crimes from 60s to 80s.
Former Sri Lankan Consul General in Toronto Mr. C.S. Poolokasingham, paid rich tributes to Srimal as the chief guest at the function to celebrate 40 years of his journalism career in 2003. The diplomat said, “The main strength of Srimal as a top-notch crime reporter is his ability to move with any type of people. He could get a scoop from a cop directing traffic in a busy Colombo junction or directly from the IGP’s mouth.”
It is not an exaggeration at all since I knew Srimal’s capabilities while working with him on the Daily News editorial. I met him in the early 80s and was a witness to his hard work, dedication, and gutsy nature. He was a brash, no-nonsense guy, hell-bent on going deep into a crime to produce excellent scoops for his paper.
He rose from the ranks of a stringer working as the Moratuwa reporter for the Dawasa Group, paid by the inches he wrote. There his career ended briefly as he joined the Dawasa Group strike. He told me that the only reason he joined the trade union action was to back the workers who were mistreated by the management.
Always sympathetic to the Left, Srimal was closely related to former influential LSSP political couple, Kusala and Hector Abhayvardhana. Srimal’s wife Malkanthie is Kusala’s niece.
Srimal became a successful crime reporter in Sri Lanka mainly because of his connections with important people that mattered.
He covered the crime beat for the Times and Ceylon Daily News during the tenures of six IGPs, which I think is a record. When he began at the Times, the top cop in Sri Lanka was Stanley Senanayake. Later, he was in close touch with Senanayake’s predecessors: Ana Seneviratne, Rudra Rajasingham, Herbert Weerasinghe, Cyril Herath and Ernest Perera. It was no surprise that he could produce sensational stories on a daily basis with total authenticity and credibility, as he had 24-hour access to such top-level contacts in the police service.
He started his day early by meeting top officials at the police headquarters on his way to work. Then, he headed to the JMO’s office and arrived at his desk with a couple of front-page worthy scoops by lunchtime.
An interesting anecdote that Srimal related to me was what happened when IGP Herbert Weerasinghe visited the maternity home two days after his wife gave birth to his only son, Mahesh.
There was a traffic jam on Galle highway with many police cars flashing emergency lights when he got off the bus near the Lanka hospital. He was excited thinking that it could be another scoop for his paper, and he approached the Wellawatte OIC Hettiarachchi who was in the vicinity.
“Don’t you know?” the police officer asked, smiling. “IGP has come to see your newborn baby at the hospital.”
One of the most sensational trials that Srimal covered for Times was the Mathew Peiris murder case. When the JMO returned an open verdict on the death of Russel Ingram, Srimal went to his office, accompanied a cameraman to photograph the Borella vicarage. The next morning, the Times front page displayed the giant pictures of the church along with Srimal’s story about one of the most sensational crime stories in history, which later spawned a film and several books.
During his time at the Daily News, violence and crime surged owing to the communal tensions and unprecedented terror incidents in the south of the island.
Srimal covered the deaths of many politicians assassinated in the 80s. He was also busy reporting the escalating tensions in the north and east. That period was a testing time for him as some victims of the spiralling violence were his close friends whom he knew at Colombo St. Peter’s College or got to know during his journalism career.
An unprecedented crime he covered was the young schoolboy Saman Kumara murder in Mathugama. The case is recorded as the first-ever child kidnapping-turned murder case in Sri Lankan history. The little boy was kidnapped and killed by the perpetrators to demand a ransom from the parents.
Srimal was one of the first few reporters to rush to actor-turned-politician Vijaya Kumaratunga’s house when he was brutally gunned down.
Another case he covered for the Daily News was the mysterious death of beauty queen-turned actress Ramani Bartholomeusz. She died after falling from a vehicle on June 30, 1987 at the age of 20.
He was at the airport when the first Sri Lankan to hijack a commercial airplane, Sepala Ekanayake, arrived at Katunayaka, and followed him as he was trying to deposit the ransom money of $300,000 he got from the Italian government. Sepala went from bank to bank in Colombo with a bag stuffed with money, trailed by journalists. At that time, there were only three major English papers in the island. A Bank of Ceylon branch in Fort was ready to accept the money, and a teller was in the process of counting the huge sum when he got a call from somewhere. The clerk stopped counting and handed the money back to Sepala.
Next, he boarded a taxi and was on his way to his village in Tissamaharama but was taken into custody in Galle. The arrest was delayed until the parliament approved a law to prosecute hijackers as the country had no such laws until Sepala did the unthinkable by seizing an Alitalia flight in Bangkok.
Srimal who was always obsessed with covering many angles of a crime, paid a hurried visit to Sepala’s village to interview his family members and friends to add more depth to the follow-up stories. He also interviewed hijacker’s Italian wife, who was flown to Sri Lanka with her son, named Freedom
Another case he covered was the arrack poisoning tragedy that killed eight in Moratuwa in 1980. He was horrified to find one of his close friends, film actor Shirley Gomes, was among victims.
Srimal was present at the scene when a navy man, assaulted former Indian prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with his rifle in Colombo. He covered the event with Sena Widanagama, the Daily News photographer, who took the iconic picture of the former Indian prime minister dodging the potentially fatal blow.
Sometimes human-interest stories fell into Srimal’s lap. One day while he was travelling on a bus, he had seen a man sleeping, keeping his head on the back of the front seat. He looked odd in appearance, wearing a white vest and a pair of khaki trousers and katta (wooden clogs). A small suitcase was on his lap.
The conductor of the bus tried to wake him at some point, but the man did not. On closer examination, it was found that he had died on the bus. The police arrived when the conductor called for help, and Srimal hitched a ride in a cop car to the mortuary. It was soon found out that the man had been serving a jail term of 20 years for double murder and was going home after serving his sentence. The story was front-page news the next day.
Srimal left Sri Lanka for Canada in 1988 and started an English language monthly filling a long-felt need of the immigrants from the South Asian nation. Rain, shine or snow, the Sri Lanka Reporter was available in the first week of every month without fail for 25 long years, a record yet to be equalled by any Sri Lankan ethnic newspaper in Toronto.
In 2003, the Toronto Star did a lead story on Srimal’s paper describing it as the ‘leader of the pack’ of ethnic newspapers in Toronto, taking into consideration its wide circulation and popularity. The paper won numerous awards and honors for its content and design.
Most of the ethnic papers in Toronto are distributed freely and the overhead costs are recovered by advertising. The newspapers faced difficulties due to decreased advertising in the recent past, but Srimal kept his paper afloat during the publishing industry’s slump caused by the internet’s popularity.
The most significant contribution of Srimal to Canadian ethnic media was when he served in the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada as a founding member from its inception in 2000. He held the post of treasurer till 2016.
The media council did not attract attention initially but as demography changed due to immigration, the Canadian politicians realized the importance of the ethnic media, turning the organisation to a powerful lobby. That was when the council began to fight for privileges and benefits from the government to survive against the competition from the mainstream media.
Every year, the Council recognizes the services of professionals from various communities. Srimal was instrumental in recognizing and honouring many Sri Lankans serving the community.
Srimal worked hard with the other executive committee members to establish a strong foundation for the ethnic media to become a powerful organization. Today the council groups more than 200 newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations and websites in the Ontario province.
Srimal’s funeral was held in Toronto on August 7.
