A Russian woman who was the victim of a vicious rape attack led by a Sri Lankan politician in a holiday resort on the south of the island on Christmas Day 2011, has vowed to carry on until justice has been served for the assault, which left her British boyfriend murdered.
In a report published in the Sunday Times, the victim, 24-year-old Victoria Tkacheva feared that the men responsible would never be held accountable, commenting,
“I know if Khuram was in my place he would go on to the end... That’s what I must do too”.
She went on to state that she was ready to give evidence at trial, but was doubtful of accountability, given that the suspects, including Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana, head of the local council in Tangalle and close associate of the ruling Rajapaksa family, were freed on bail and the politician reinstated to his post last year.
Tkacheva was distraught, adding,
” I was devastated when the men were freed on bail”.
She went on to recount the horrific attack, which saw her raped and left with a fractured skull and her boyfriend, Red Cross worker Khuram Shaikh shot dead.
“I couldn’t even see them. They started beating me. I fell to the ground — I was covering my head with my arms so I couldn’t see anybody,”
“It was next to the pool. It was so sudden, they were kicking and punching.”
“I was trying to escape from the pool but they were not letting me.”
“I got out from another side of the pool and in a few steps I found Khuram lying on the ground. I ran to him and started to call his name but he wasn’t responding."
“I tried to make him conscious, trying mouth-to- mouth, but there was nothing I could do to make him conscious,”
“When I couldn’t bring him round I screamed very loud from helplessness and then I think I lost consciousness because I don’t remember anything else.”
Tkacheva says she blanked out at this point, with her next memory waking up in a hospital wearing a blood stained T-shirt, without her dress or underwear. She had been raped.
“You try not to think that could have happened but it’s disgusting because they killed Khuram and sexually assaulted me”.