Warning: Details in this story may be disturbing for some readers.
An international student was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years after pleading guilty to killing a mother, her four children and a family acquaintance at a home in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven last year.
Febrio De-Zoysa pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder Thursday morning at the Ottawa Courthouse. He was initially charged with six counts of first-degree murder.
Six people were found dead inside a two-storey townhouse on Berrigan Drive on March 6, 2024.
Darshani Ekanayake, 35, her seven-year-old son Inuka, four-year-old daughter Ashwini, three-year-old daughter Ranaya and two-month-old daughter Kelly were killed. An acquaintance of the family, 40-year-old Gamini Amarakoon, was also found deceased at the home.
The woman’s husband, Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, was seriously injured. He was the lone survivor.
Justice Kevin Phillips sentenced De-Zoysa to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, calling it one of the worst crimes in Ottawa’s history that “shocked” the community and had “shaken it to its core.”
“Stupefying, monstrous, even demonic. You are the stuff of nightmares,” Phillips said. “If I could give consecutive sentences, I would.”
De-Zoysa was 19 years old at the time of his arrest.
‘Nothing but good to me’
According to the agreed statement of facts, De-Zoysa told Sgt. Chris O’Brien the family had “been nothing but good to me.”
“It’s nothing personal. I didn’t know what to do,” De-Zoysa said during an interview following his arrest.
The court heard that De-Zoysa had $2.24 in his bank account at the end of February 2024 and had stopped going to class at Algonquin College. He said he believed that failing the semester would result in him not graduating, ending his student visa and result in an end to financial support from his parents.
He initially told police he originally purchased the knife in order to kill himself in January 2024 but said he “lost control.”
“I couldn’t take my own life. So, I just decided to bash out.”
According to the agreed statement of facts, Dhanushka was working two jobs on March 6, 2024, starting at 3:30 a.m.
The document states De-Zoysa attacked Amarakoon first after luring him to his room in the basement to watch a movie. He then killed three of the children in the living room.
The statement of facts said Ekanayake heard the screams of her children from the living room and came downstairs. He chased her and stabbed her, according to the statement. Kelly was killed in the primary bedroom.
The court heard De-Zoysa waited for hours until Dhanushka Wickramasinghe arrived home and attacked him when he walked through the garage door.
The Ottawa Police Service said officers responded to 911 calls reporting a “suspicious incident where a male was yelling and asking people to call 911.”
De-Zoysa was arrested at the scene by officers.
“I was going to be deported. I had no choice. I killed them all,” he told officers at the scene, according to the agreed statement of facts.
‘No recovery from this’
Dhanushka Wickramasinghe provided a victim’s impact statement to the court Thursday afternoon.
“My only wish was to give my wife and children the best possible life,” Wickramasinghe said.
“I wake up every day with their faces in my heart. There is no recovery from this. I can only hope by helping others, I can honour them.”
Amarakoon’s wife told the court that he was a loving and hardworking family man.
“My whole world has been shattered in an instant,” Dishani Fernando said.
She said she wanted to look De-Zoysa in the eye and “make him understand what he has taken from us.”
‘I’m truly sorry’
De-Zoysa addressed the courtroom before he was sentenced.
“I’m deeply sorry for what I’ve done,” De-Zoysa said.
“I will spend the rest of my life accepting responsibility for the harm I’ve caused.”
De-Zoysa said he will “do what is right and plead guilty.”
“I’m not well. I was not having rational thoughts at that time. I was suicidal and depressed. I was not in a good position mentally,” De-Zoysa said.
“I’m truly sorry. I hope you can all find peace one day.”
In March 2024, an Algonquin College spokesperson told CTV News Ottawa that De-Zoysa was a student at the Ottawa college.
“It appears that his last semester of attendance was Winter 2023,” the college said.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the mass killing “one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history.”
Barrhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, located approximately 25 minutes south of downtown.
With files from The Canadian Press
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