The death of the two-yearold girl who fell off a threewheeler in Haliela was caused by the negligence of the driver who was answering a call on his mobile phone while driving, the child’s mother alleged yesterday.

“1 was traveling in a three-wheeler with my schoolgoing daughter and my child of two years who was seated on my lap. I requested the driver to stop the vehicle near my daughter’s school to enable us to get off the vehicle. At that time the driver was fully involved in answering his mobile phone and ignoring my request to stop near the school continued with the journey. I was compelled to pull his shirt collar to alert him to stop and in the process the baby on my lap lost his balance and was thrown out from the moving three-wheeler on to the road and instantly I also jumped out of the vehicle,” the grieving mother Malkanthi Jayasekera (28) of Haliella Rockathennawatte said.

The death of Ananda Visalwaran after he was severely injured in the fall, caused shock and grief to the villagers. His mother is now under treatment at the Badulla General Hospital. It was revealed that this mishap had happened when the mother was accompanying her daughter Imalka Pabodani (8) a student of Haliella Kobbekaduwa College.

Ms. Jayasekera said her husband is a labourer and she is the mother of three children.

“The eldest child goes to school by bus but however on this day as the bus did not arrive. I was compelled to travel in the three-wheeler. While the three-wheeler was on the move the driver received a call on his mobile phone, and started to speed up being distracted with the telephone conversation and my requests to stop the three-wheeler near the school fell on deaf ears. I was compelled to pull the drivers shirt collar to attract his attention and the rest is history,” she said.

The trishaw driver Bogahawatte Nagoor Pitchai (29) was produced before the Badulla magistrate YR B Nelumdeniya and was remanded until the November 11.

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka