A Canadian court has sentenced Febrio De-Zoysa, a 19-year-old Sri Lankan-born student, to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for the brutal killing of a mother, her four young children, and a family friend in Ottawa last year.
De-Zoysa pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and one count of attempted murder, according to The Canadian Press.
The victims — Darshani Ekanayake, 35, and her children Inuka (7), Ashwini (4), Ranaya (3), and Kelly, a two-month-old baby — were all killed in the 2024 mass stabbing, along with Gamini Amarakoon (40), a close family friend. The children’s father, Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, survived the attack but sustained serious injuries.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips described the killings as “one of the worst crimes” in Ottawa’s history, saying De-Zoysa had destroyed “two beautiful families” and “shook the community to its core.” He added that De-Zoysa had betrayed the trust of a family who had welcomed him into their home and used a knife to “grotesque effect,” calling the attack “monstrous, even demonic.”
“You are the stuff of nightmares,” the judge said. “If I could give consecutive life sentences, I would.”
Because of a 2022 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that outlawed consecutive life sentences for murder, the judge ordered all sentences to run concurrently.
The murders took place in Barrhaven, a suburb about 20 kilometres south of downtown Ottawa. All the victims except the youngest child were Sri Lankan nationals who had moved to Canada in recent years. The baby was born in Ottawa.
De-Zoysa, who had been studying at Algonquin College and living in the family’s basement, was 19 at the time of the killings. During Thursday’s hearing, relatives of the victims delivered emotional impact statements. Amarakoon’s wife broke down while addressing the court via video, and statements from his teenage and younger daughters were also read aloud.
(Source: The Canadian Press)
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