The 19-year-old man accused in the worst mass killings in Ottawa’s recent history had a brief court Thursday afternoon.
Febrio De-Zoysa has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in the deaths of a newcomer family.
The accused appeared by phone.
De-Zoysa’s lawyer Ewan Lyttle said he met briefly with his client, who is in protective custody, via video link.
Lyttle also said he spoke to De-Zoysa’s family.
His next court appearance is scheduled for March 28.
De-Zoysa was arrested last Wednesday night after police made a gruesome discovery inside a home in Barrhaven in the city’s west end.
Officers found the bodies of 35-year-old mother Darshani Ekanayake and her four children; the youngest was just two-and-a-half months old.
Forty-year-old Gamini Amarakoon Amarakoon Mudiyanselage, a friend who was living with the family, was also killed.
The children’s father, Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Ottawa police say they were attacked with a “knife-like” object.
Bhante Suneetha, a resident monk at the Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Monastery in Ottawa, where the family worshipped, visited Wickramasinghe in hospital.
Suneetha says the attacker ambushed Wickramasinghe, slashing his hands and face.
The father of four had recently moved to Canada from Sri Lanka.
De-Zoysa, also a Sri Lankan national, came to Ottawa as an international student and was living with the Wickramasinghe family, police say.
De-Zoysa’s aunt spoke to Global News last week and said her nephew met Wickramasinghe at Algonquin College, where the two were studying.
Anusha De-Zoysa said the 19-year-old’s behaviour had recently changed.
“He stopped contacting us. He blocked us. Our phone numbers, social media. Everything was blocked,” Anusha De-Zoysa said. “Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think this would happen.”
She says the accused is her brother’s oldest son and came to Canada two years ago, describing her nephew as “quiet” and a “good student.”
“I’m frozen, I can’t sleep,” she said.
“I’m still shaking. That family was so nice to him,” she told Global News Friday. “They were such a wonderful family.”
The victims are:
- Bandaranayake Gama Walawwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanayake (35 years old)
- Inuka Wickramasinghe (seven years old)
- Ashwini Wickramasinghe (four years old)
- Ranaya Wickramasinghe (two years old)
- Kelly Wickramasinghe (two-and-a-half months)
- Gamini Amarakoon Amarakoon Mudiyanselage (40 years old)
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