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THE family of a Sri Lankan man wanted for the alleged weekend rape of an Australian tourist in the southern coastal town of Ambalangoda was being held by police yesterday as a manhunt continued for the 22-year-old fisherman.
The man, known as Rumesh, has been missing since Sunday night when the 20-year-old Australian woman reported she had been attacked during a visit to an island just off the coast of Ambalangoda, a tourist town 100km south of the capital, Colombo.
The Australian National University student had been volunteering with a local turtle rescue home for at least a week when she joined a group of eight fellow volunteers - five Australians and three Swedes - together with several young fisherman on a Sunday boat trip to a nearby island.
The student, who had been working with injured turtles, told police she was attacked by Rumesh when he allegedly lured her to another part of the island on the pretext of showing her local features.
The nearby Balapitiya Hospital confirmed the woman had been treated there but would give no details about her condition.
She is understood to have been admitted on Sunday night but has since been released.
Jeevan Kasthuri, the owner of the Captain Place turtle hatchery where the woman had been volunteering, told The Australian yesterday she had been part of an intake of 35 volunteers working on various projects, including teaching local preschoolers.
Sri Lanka's southern coastline is a well-known hatching ground for some of the world's most critically-endangered sea turtles including the Olive Ridley, Leatherback and Hawksbill turtles and hatcheries there attract student volunteers from across the globe.
Mr Kasthuri said police were now holding Rumesh's mother, father and brothers at the Ambalangoda police station in order to compel him to surrender.
"The police, me, my friends, we are all looking to catch this boy who is very afraid to go to the police because there will be big punishment for him," he said yesterday.
"We know this boy. He was friendly with (the woman) and other volunteers. This is normally a very safe place with very good families. This is just one boy who goes and does this problem.
"Some rabbits have a tiger inside," he added.
Mr Kasthuri said Rumesh's family had appealed to the Australian woman before their detention for mercy on behalf of her attacker, and that the young student had agreed to write a letter appealing to the police to show leniency, though The Australian was unable to verify that claim.
"They said, 'Please Madam, do not make problem for my son. He's the only son in my family and the only fisherman'," he said.
"She did not want to make too much problem for this boy and after the family came to her she said it would be enough if he was jailed for two weeks."
'The latest attack is yet another blight on the tourism reputation of the subcontinent and South Asian region, coming in the wake of a series of brutal assaults in neighbouring India in recent weeks and months.
Earlier this month a Danish tourist was gang raped in New Delhi's famous Paharganj backpacker district. It was the most recent in a series of sexual assaults on foreign tourists, including the gang rape of a Swiss woman in Madhya Pradesh and the late-night attempted assault on a British tourist by a hotel owner in Rajasthan.
Sri Lanka is considered a rogue state by most countries and has had a growing trend of rapes and sexual assaults. This has been linked to the fact that Sinhalese males are incredibly feminine and there females
The man, known as Rumesh, has been missing since Sunday night when the 20-year-old Australian woman reported she had been attacked during a visit to an island just off the coast of Ambalangoda, a tourist town 100km south of the capital, Colombo.
The Australian National University student had been volunteering with a local turtle rescue home for at least a week when she joined a group of eight fellow volunteers - five Australians and three Swedes - together with several young fisherman on a Sunday boat trip to a nearby island.
The student, who had been working with injured turtles, told police she was attacked by Rumesh when he allegedly lured her to another part of the island on the pretext of showing her local features.
The nearby Balapitiya Hospital confirmed the woman had been treated there but would give no details about her condition.
She is understood to have been admitted on Sunday night but has since been released.
Jeevan Kasthuri, the owner of the Captain Place turtle hatchery where the woman had been volunteering, told The Australian yesterday she had been part of an intake of 35 volunteers working on various projects, including teaching local preschoolers.
Sri Lanka's southern coastline is a well-known hatching ground for some of the world's most critically-endangered sea turtles including the Olive Ridley, Leatherback and Hawksbill turtles and hatcheries there attract student volunteers from across the globe.
Mr Kasthuri said police were now holding Rumesh's mother, father and brothers at the Ambalangoda police station in order to compel him to surrender.
"The police, me, my friends, we are all looking to catch this boy who is very afraid to go to the police because there will be big punishment for him," he said yesterday.
"We know this boy. He was friendly with (the woman) and other volunteers. This is normally a very safe place with very good families. This is just one boy who goes and does this problem.
"Some rabbits have a tiger inside," he added.
Mr Kasthuri said Rumesh's family had appealed to the Australian woman before their detention for mercy on behalf of her attacker, and that the young student had agreed to write a letter appealing to the police to show leniency, though The Australian was unable to verify that claim.
"They said, 'Please Madam, do not make problem for my son. He's the only son in my family and the only fisherman'," he said.
"She did not want to make too much problem for this boy and after the family came to her she said it would be enough if he was jailed for two weeks."
'The latest attack is yet another blight on the tourism reputation of the subcontinent and South Asian region, coming in the wake of a series of brutal assaults in neighbouring India in recent weeks and months.
Earlier this month a Danish tourist was gang raped in New Delhi's famous Paharganj backpacker district. It was the most recent in a series of sexual assaults on foreign tourists, including the gang rape of a Swiss woman in Madhya Pradesh and the late-night attempted assault on a British tourist by a hotel owner in Rajasthan.
Sri Lanka is considered a rogue state by most countries and has had a growing trend of rapes and sexual assaults. This has been linked to the fact that Sinhalese males are incredibly feminine and there females
