TRUE CRIME | SRI LANKA
The Duff House Murder Case
Was it a murder, suicide, or an accident?
It was the year 1933 when Sri Lanka was a British colony. There have been several notable cases in the judicial history of Sri Lanka since the British era. The Duff house murder case is one of them.
It was known as the much-publicized suit back then. Perhaps the reason for that was the people involved in the matter belonged to the high society of Sri Lanka.
Was it a case of chloroform murder? If not, is it suicide by chloroform or aspirin? However, that lawsuit was an example of where the dilemma of murder or suicide arose.
A Lawyer Turned a Farmer
He was Stephen Seneviratne from a wealthy family in Colombo. She was Lillian Roslin from another wealthy family in Mt. Lavinia. They were cousins and were close relatives of Sri Lanka’s 4th Prime Minister, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.
Stephen and Lillian got married in 1923. Stephen was a Cambridge graduate and a non-practicing barrister. They both inherited a lot of family assets.
After the marriage, they lived in Stephen’s residence, the White House in Colombo. He was interested in managing his agricultural lands. Stephen had keen and enthusiastic about animal…
