Barrhaven victims memorial: ‘I lost everything, my whole world’

Husband and father Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, who was injured, but survived the mass attack on March 6, 2024, speaks to reporters after Saturday’s memorial service. Photo by Ashley Fraser /PostmediaArticle content

A Buddhist temple in Ottawa resonated with solemn chanting on the morning of March 8 as monks in orange robes, their congregation and the mayor of Ottawa came together to support Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, the Barrhaven man whose wife and four young children were killed in their home almost exactly a year ago.

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The service’s attendees, who filled the Hilda Jayewardenaramaya temple on Heron Road, also sent their blessings and positive energy to the six people who died in the mass stabbing incident that horrified Ottawa, made international news and prompted statements last March from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.

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The victims of the tragedy on March 6, 2024, included 35-year-old Darshani Dilanthika Ekfanyake and her four children: Inuka Wickramasinghe, 7, Ashwini Wickramasinghe, 4, Rinyana Wickramasinghe, 2, and two-month-old Kelly Wickramasinghe.

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Amarakoonmubiayansela Ge Gamini Amarakoon, a 40-year-old family acquaintance who also lived in their Berrigan Drive townhouse, was also killed.

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Dhanushka Wickramasinghe was also injured and taken to hospital.

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“Somehow, I survived,” Wickramasinghe said to reporters Saturday. “I just fought to protect my family. Unfortunately, I was too late. For some reason, I will survive.”

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A student from Sri Lanka who lived with the Wickramasinghe family was arrested and charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

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After the monks, who included esteemed visitors from Detroit, Michigan, and Mississauga, addressed the attendees and led rituals, Sutcliffe spoke.

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“It’s so difficult to imagine what you’ve experienced, the unimaginable loss, the terrible grief,” Sutcliffe said to Wickramasinghe, who sat nearby. “When one member of our community suffers, we all suffer. When one member of our community grieves, we all grieve.

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Dhanushka Wickramasinghe paused for a moment after lighting candles for each of his late family members, offering a prayer to the photograph that hung in the temple. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIAArticle content

“I hope you felt that love and support from the community over the past year, and I want you to know that it will continue. We will always be there with you. We will always be there to support you. We will always be there to comfort you.”

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Last May, Sutcliffe ran the Tartan Ottawa International Marathon in support of a fundraising campaign organized by Ottawa Victim Services to help Wickramasinghe. When Sutcliffe crossed the finish line, Wickramasinghe presented him with his marathon medal.

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Wickramasinghe did not speak during Saturday’s memorial, but he later answered questions from reporters who had been welcomed at the memorial.

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“I lost everything, my whole world,” he said. “We had a beautiful love story, 15 years,” Wickramasinghe said of his late wife.

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The deaths of his wife and children “taught me a big lesson. I know everything is impermanent. Even for me, I have nothing to lose now,” Wickramasinghe said before choking up with tears.

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He said that, after his family was taken from him, he had two choices: succumb to self-destruction or “go forward with the pain.” He said he toughened himself mentally and physically through meditation, a fitness regimen and support from his temple community and his relatives, including his father and brother, who also came to Saturday’s service.