Attygalle murder
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The murder of Francis Dixon Attygalle (known as the Attygalle murder) took place on 5 December 1906, after he was shot in the abdomen and later succumbed to his injuries in hospital. The murder became Ceylon's first sensational trial, which lay blame on Attygalle's brother-in-law John Kotelawala Sr, who committed suicide in jail before the verdict was given.
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John Kotelawala Sr, a police inspector married Alice Elizabeth Attygalle, daughter of the wealthy Mudaliyar Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle, after an illicit love affair to which the Attygalle family objected, but later conceded. As dowry, Kotelawala received 2,058 acres (833 ha) of rubber and coconut estates, as well as a one-fourth share of graphite mines owned by the Attygalle family.
Soon after, the ill Mudaliyar Gemoris Attygalle died in 1901 and Kotelawala resigned from the police force and took over the management of the Attygalle family business, since the Mudaliyar's only son, Francis Dixon Attygalle, was a minor. Later the Mudaliyar's widow, Petronella Attygalle, accused Kotelawala of misappropriating funds, and took legal action to bar him from the family business. She filed several cases in the Kurunegala District Court to eject him from the management. Francis Dixon Attygalle left Wesley College, aged 16, to take over the family business. Petronella made representations to the governor and had letters of venia aetatis conferred, thus freeing Francis Dixon Attygalle from the status of minor. She also had her second daughter Lena marry T. G. Jayewardene, an engineer in the Public Works Department and a lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry. The Jayewardenes were a family of lawyers, and Kotelawala insulted them on the day of the wedding.
Thereafter, Kotelawala was removed from the management of the Attygalle family business and he started his own business ventures, in transportation using bullock carts. He had confrontations in managing his estate he received as dowry from the Attygalle family, which led to increasing the animosity against Francis Dixon Attygalle. In 1905, he formed the Ceylon-Japan Trading Company and set out for Japan on business.[1][2]