Slain maid's body sent to Colombo

Mohammed Rasooldeen

The body of a Sri Lankan housemaid found dead in the desert 10 months ago was repatriated to Colombo on Saturday night.

"The body of Ihalagedarage Dayawathie, 28, was found by the police in the desert in Al-Jouf on October 21 last year," a Sri Lankan Embassy official told the Daily News. The body had decomposed.

The official said the authorities arrested the maid's sponsor, Hamdan Ruwaishid, and his wife, Maryam bint Sadook, for the murder.

He added that the Sri Lankan mission only received information about the death in early February and that the repatriation of the body was delayed as the mission had to wait for police to complete their investigations. "The motive for the killing is still yet unknown.

"However, police released the body as soon as preliminary investigations were over and after establishing a prima facie case against the alleged killers," he said.

The mission is to take a power of attorney from the maid's next-of-kin to proceed with a case of litigation.

Dayawathie - who is from Panselwatte, a village in Dodangaslande, came to the Kingdom in March 2005. Her family had not heard from her for six months after her arrival in the Kingdom. On receiving Dayawathie's body yesterday, police at the Bandaranaike International Airport said the job agency which provided her with the job had contacted her family and informed them that she had died last year and that the Saudi police were investigating the death.