Synopsis

Batuge Don Sumathipala who became well known as 'Hithumathe Jeewithe' based on the same words marked across his chest was a murder convict who was serving on the death row in Sri Lankan prisons. At the age of 17, he was made a criminal by the urge to avenge the gang rape and brutal murder of his school-going sister. Those responsible for this heinous crimes were none other than the Headquarters Inspector (HQI) of Kalutara Police, the school Principal, a politician and a few others. Served with several death sentences, Sumathipala was in prison for over four decades, escaping seven times finally receiving a Presidential pardon.

His criminal record was special as he was sentenced to death on four occasions based on the 'crimes' of killing members of a group which gang raped and murdered his younger sister. Through the brutish rapist and killers escaped the system of justice, they could not do so from the loving brother of the sister they killed.

Hailing from a small hamlet off Kalutara, Sumathipala's sister was crowned as the Beauty Queen of the village's Sinhala New Year Festival in 1972. But subsequent to this the HQI of Kalutara, who was the chief guest at the event followed the young girl who refused his congratulatory wish with a kiss. Enraged by this, the brutish police officer abducted the young girl with the support of those 'respectable leaders' in the area, school principal, GramaSevaka and a politician. She was gang raped and killed and her body was burnt to destroy all the evidence. Sumathipala who was just 17 years then visited the Police Station and killed the HQI on the spot and beheaded him. He carried the HQI's head and handed it over to the Superintendent of Police in the area. The result, he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1975. However Sumathipala escaped from the prison on seven occasions and killed the rest of the killers of his sister.