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Owner of Ottawa home where family killed says no idea accused lived there – National

The property owner of a west-end Ottawa home that became the scene of the city’s worst mass killing in recent memory says he did not know the accused killer lived there.

Ottawa police allege 19-year-old Sri Lankan national Febrio De-Zoysa murdered a mother, and her four children along with a family acquaintance. The youngest victim was just a few months old. De-Zoysa is facing six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

The father, identified in court documents as Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries.

“I don’t know even know this person [De-Soysa] because I had leased out only to the family. I did not even know that this person was living with them,” Harpreet Chhabra told Global News when reached by phone Friday.

Chhabra is an Ottawa mortgage agent who rented out the property on Berrigan Dr. in Barrhaven to the family who had recently come to Canada from Sri Lanka.

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Click to play video: 'Ottawa homicide: 4 children, 2 adults found dead inside Barrhaven home'


Ottawa homicide: 4 children, 2 adults found dead inside Barrhaven home


Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs told reporters on Thursday that investigators were still trying to determine exactly what the living situation was in relation to De-Zoysa and the victims, but confirmed De-Zoysa also lived at the Barrhaven home.


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Thirty-five-year-old mother Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake, her four children, between the ages of seven and two-and-a-half months, were killed inside their home Wednesday night.

Forty-year-old family acquaintance Amarakoomubiayansela Ge Gamini Amarakoon also died. Police say the victims were attacked with a “knife-like” weapon.

Chhabra says he did not know Amarakoon was living in the house either.

According to the property owner, the Wickramasinghe family moved into the Barrhaven home last summer. He says the father arrived in Canada first and waited for his wife to come with their children.

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The property owner describes the surviving father as a “very nice guy” and good tenant.

“He was the kind of tenant who paid his rent always on time… he took good care of the house,” said Chhabra.

“I don’t even have words after all this. Shock, stress, feelings for the family,” he added.


Click to play video: '‘Shock and horror’: Trudeau reacts to Ottawa homicide that left 6 dead'


‘Shock and horror’: Trudeau reacts to Ottawa homicide that left 6 dead


Police said on Thursday De-Soyza has recently come to Canada to study. Algonquin College – a post-secondary institution in Ottawa- confirmed he had been a student there.

According to the college De-Zoysa last attended the school during the 2023 winter semester, which ran from January to April. He was charged by police on Thursday after what the city’s mayor has called it one of the “most shocking” cases of violence in Ottawa’s history.

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“Algonquin College mourns along with our community after learning the devastating news of the six individuals who were senselessly murdered in Barrhaven yesterday,” Algonquin College president and CEO Claude Brulé said in a statement Thursday.

“This news is shocking to us all and is a tragic loss to our city and community. Let us honour the memory of the two adults and four children who lost their lives, as well as share our deepest sympathies to the surviving family, friends, and loved ones.”

The victims are:

  • Darshani Banbaranayake Gama Walwwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake (35 years old)
  • Inuka Wickramasinghe (seven years old)
  • Ashwini Wickramasinghe (four years old)
  • Rinyana Wickramasinghe (two years old)
  • Kelly Wickramasinghe (two-and-a-half-months)
  • Amarakoomubiayansela Ge Gamini Amarakoon (40 years old)

Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs told reporters on Wednesday that investigators were still trying to determine exactly what the living situation was in relation to De-Zoysa and the victims, but confirmed De-Zoysa also lived at the Barrhaven home.

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