Member-only story
The Murder of Sri Lanka’s Star Rugby Player
The Havelock Sports Club had lost another promising rugby player.
On May 16, 1986, at around 2:30 a.m., the phone rang at the Bambalapitiya police station in Sri Lanka. On the other end of the call was a frantic female voice.
She complained to the police about the sound of fighting in the house next door. Ten minutes after receiving the call, police officers went to the scene. At first glance, the officers knew that something terrible had happened there.
A Desperate Call
Tony Martin was a great Sri Lankan rugby player who played for Havelock Sports Club. He was unmarried and 35 years old in 1986. By then, he had stopped playing Rugby and was a promising businessman. Tony lived in an annex next to his mother’s house opposite the Havelock Sports Club.
Both houses had separate entrances. The gate to Tony’s house was about 6 feet high. There was a door connecting the two houses between Tony’s and his mother’s bedrooms. However, they did not use that door regularly.
On May 16, 1986, at around 2:30 a.m., the mother heard Tony calling her. “Mommy…Mommy…” The voice was accompanied by the sound of a fight. She then turned on all the lights in the house. When the lights were turned on, the noise stopped. The frightened mother called the police.
A Terrifying Discovery
When the police arrived, they saw the gate leading to Tony’s house slightly open. They entered through the gate and went to knock on the door. At that moment, the officers saw an unusual sight in front of the main door.
The main door was closed. One verandah window was open and there was a window grill next to the window. Someone from outside had removed the window grill to enter the house. There were also bloody footprints from the annex towards the gate.
The experienced police officers sensed that something violent had happened in the house. They didn’t want to destroy evidence. So the officers knocked on the mother’s door.
The mother informed the officers about the door in her bedroom leading to her son’s room. There was a cupboard in the mother’s room blocking that door…
