'I Beg for Justice': Mother's Cry 7 Years After Easter Horror

COLOMBO (News 1st); If Sneha Savindi, who was praying at Katuwapitiya Church on Easter Sunday in 2019, were alive today, she would now be a 19-year-old young woman, with dreams yet to unfold and a life ahead of her.

Instead, she remains one among 108 worshippers who lost their lives in a single, devastating moment of terror, as they gathered in faith and devotion inside the church that morning.

Recalling the horror years later, her mother’s voice still trembles with unbearable pain, the trauma frozen in time.

“When I opened my eyes at that moment, I could not see the roof, it was collapsing into darkness. When I looked ahead, there were human body parts lying all over me. When I turned to the side, I saw the sister and brother who had come with me, but when I looked ahead, I could not even see my daughter. She was buried under a pile of bodies. I had nothing left to look at. There was a large hole near her neck. I still cannot explain what I felt. Even today, having seen all that with my own eyes, I feel like we are living in torment,” she said, reliving the nightmare that has never truly ended.

Seven years have now passed since the Easter Sunday attacks, a tragedy that claimed 278 innocent lives and left more than 500 others permanently disabled. Yet for the victims and their families, time has not healed the wounds, it has only deepened the longing for answers and justice.

For years, their cries for justice echoed through a political landscape that often seemed to drown them out, as competing narratives and power struggles overshadowed their grief.

Today, however, the investigation has entered what authorities describe as a decisive phase, driven by a scientific and evidence-based approach that is gradually revealing details long buried beneath years of uncertainty.

Recent court proceedings have brought forward chilling revelations about the events surrounding the Katuwapitiya massacre.

According to an investigating officer, crucial testimony has shed light on possible pre-attack activities.

“My Lord, during the previous court date of this case, a witness testified before this court that prior to the Easter Sunday attacks, the third suspect, Suresh Salley, had shown Catholic churches to four Muslim extremists through an informant operated by military intelligence in the Negombo area,” the officer stated before court.

The man who carried out the suicide bombing at Katuwapitiya was identified as Mohamed Hasthun.

His wife, Sarah Jasmine, has been another figure surrounded by mystery. Initial DNA tests had suggested she was alive, supported by evidence indicating she had fled. However, a later third DNA test abruptly concluded that she was dead, further complicating an already complex investigation.

Adding to the intrigue, the Criminal Investigation Department had previously informed court that Former State Intelligence Service Chief Suresh Salley had been involved in obtaining that DNA report, a detail that continues to draw scrutiny as the case unfolds.

Within this evolving scientific investigation, facts continue to emerge piece by piece, each revelation presented before court as part of a larger puzzle that the nation is desperate to see completed.

As Sri Lanka watches closely, hope remains that these developments will finally lead to accountability, truth, and closure.

Yet for mothers like Savindi’s, justice is not just a legal outcome, it is a deeply personal need, a cry from a heart that has carried unimaginable pain for seven long years.

“People who did not raise their voices for us when our loved ones were dying like animals, torn into pieces, are now shouting loudly and trying to tell the world something. But there is no one to deliver justice for us. It has been seven years and two months now in 2026,” she said, her words heavy with frustration and sorrow.

“I was there too. I am also a mother who was injured. Those who could not speak for the people who died have no right to speak now. Even after seven years, all I ask is for justice,not just for us, but for the entire Katuwapitiya community and everyone who suffered in this tragedy.”

She then questioned the sudden voices emerging in the public space.

“I saw on television yesterday politicians who could not stand up for us now raising their voices because someone else is being arrested, saying there is harassment. Why are they doing this now? Why do they only come forward for certain individuals?”

She was referring to the sathyagraha campaign launched by several opposition groups in support of Suresh Salley, who is detained by the CID. Salley, is currently at the Colombo National Hospital obtaining treatment, after refusing meals while in detention.

Savindi’s mother's voice breaks as she makes a final plea, not just for her daughter, but for every life lost that day.

“I beg you, please deliver justice for the lives we lost.”

Seven years on, the scars remain fresh, the grief unending, and the demand unchanged.