In a twisted tale of love and marriage, a bride from Gampola is reported to have eloped with the attesting witness, some two hours after she married her lover.Details of the case as recorded by the police revealed that a Kandy girls’ school A/L student who had obtained nine As at the O/L examination had fallen in love with a 19-year-old A/L student of another Kandy school.
After being involved in an amorous love affair, the couple had decided to spend a night together at the house of the girl’s friend. Realising that the couple were keen to spend a night together, the inmates had convinced them of the contentious issues they might face in the future and accompanied the young lovers to the Ulapone Registrar’s Office and registered their marriage at about 4.30 p.m.
The attesting witness was a 22-year-old father of one child.
The witness had been the former lover of newly married
bride. No sooner the couple returned to the friend’s house some two hours later to spend their honeymoon, the inmates found that the bride had eloped with her former lover, who attested to the marriage. It appears that the bride was unable to forget her first lover who had himself forgotten he was already married and a father of one child.
The villagers had given chase when they noticed the couple holding hands making a quick getaway.
They had made good their escape by boarding a bus that was nearby.
The following day all those involved in this bizarre drama had been summoned to the Gampola police station. The runaway couple were also present. The bride had confessed to the police that despite her marriage to the student from Kandy she was so enchanted with the mannerisms of her first lover and had preferred to run away with him.
Police severely reprimanded the couple and the parties had agreed to settle this matter amicably.
