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Some 200 individuals confirmed up at a public multi-faith funeral service in Ottawa Sunday to mourn the six individuals killed greater than every week in the past within the metropolis’s Barrhaven suburb.
Organized by the Buddhist Congress of Canada (BCC), the service on the Infinity Conference Centre paid tribute to the victims: a household of newcomers to Canada from Sri Lanka and their buddy.
Based on police, 4 youngsters and two adults have been killed inside a suburban townhouse in south Ottawa on March 6.
Darshani Dilanthika Ekanayake, 35, was killed alongside along with her three daughters — three-year-old Ranaya, four-year-old Ashwini, and two-month-old Kelly — and her seven-year-old son Inuka.
The physique of a household buddy, 40-year-old Gamini Amarakoon, who’d just lately arrived in Canada from Sri Lanka, was additionally discovered on the scene.
Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, the household’s father, survived the assault. He was injured with an edged weapon and brought to hospital.
Buddhist monks from Toronto and Ottawa led prayers and carried out conventional funeral customs at Sunday’s service.
In addition they thanked Ottawa’s first responders for his or her work.
Wickramasinghe was in attendance, however didn’t ship any remarks or converse to media.
As an alternative, he issued an announcement afterward wherein he thanked numerous teams — together with first responders, the hospital, the BCC and the broader Sri Lankan neighborhood — for serving to him take care of the “shock and chaos” within the wake of the killings.
He additionally stated he was “devastated and torn” by the deaths of his spouse, youngsters and good buddy.
“This tragedy has shaken me and my household deeply … I lengthen my heartfelt gratitude to the general public for his or her ideas and prayers as I navigate by way of the aftermath of this tragedy,” he wrote.
WATCH | Buddhist prayer opens Sunday’s funeral
The Buddhist Congress of Canada held a public multi-faith funeral service in Ottawa to pay tribute to a household of newcomers to Canada from Sri Lanka and their buddy who have been killed within the Barrhaven suburb.
In a video message performed on the funeral, Dishani Asangika Fernando, Amarakoon’s spouse, thanked him for being “a beautiful husband [and] a tremendous father on a regular basis.”
“I’ve so much to inform, however proper now I’m speechless,” she stated.
“You [came here] to present a superb future for our children. However all our desires simply light away in a means we by no means considered.”
‘We’re nonetheless devastated’
Earlier than the funeral, BCC president Naradha Kodituwakku instructed CBC Information Community the tragedy is deeply affecting Sri Lankan and immigrant households in Barrhaven.
“For them to come back right here and have their life led to such a brief time period … we have been devastated. We’re nonetheless devastated,” Kodituwakku stated.
Pradeep Balasubramanian, who’s Sri Lankan and lives in Toronto, got here to the funeral to move on a message from his household to Wickramasinghe and his kin.
“Get effectively quickly, and we will likely be with them at all times,” Balasubramanian stated.
‘Your neighborhood is with you,’ says mayor
Bhagya Jayaweera stated she’s been following the information for the reason that killings occurred, however standing in entrance of the hearses for the victims “made it very, very actual.”
Jayaweera stated she needed to pay her respects and provide peace to the victims’ souls.
“An entire household ripped aside … their father was taken away from them. I am unable to think about,” she stated.
A number of Canadian dignitaries spoke on the funeral, together with Liberal MPs Gary Anandasangaree and Chandra Arya, Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod and Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
“I would like you to know your neighborhood is with you,” Sutcliffe instructed the victims’ households. “We should pull collectively as a neighborhood in a time like this.
“There are harder days forward. This will likely be an unimaginable time for these households within the days and weeks and months forward … we’ll honour the reminiscences of your loved ones members.”
Suspect in protecting custody, lawyer says
Febrio De-Zoysa, 19, has been charged with six counts of first-degree homicide and one depend of tried homicide.
De-Zoysa was residing with the household when he allegedly killed them late at evening. He was additionally a former scholar at Algonquin Faculty.
His lawyer, Ewan Lyttle, instructed reporters on Thursday that De-Zoysa is in protecting custody because of the seriousness of the costs in opposition to him,
Lyttle stated Thursday it was too early to speak a few psychological well being evaluation.
Not one of the expenses in opposition to De-Zoysa have been confirmed and courtroom has not heard any proof surrounding the circumstances of the crimes.
De-Zoysa is predicted again in courtroom on March 28.
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