A thread on the injustice and the struggles surrounding being a single woman living alone in #lka

On the 8th of April, 2020 at around 1.50am there was a strange man on my bed. Some context: I've been living alone at this apartment type complex in Nedimala, on the 3rd floor.

It's a huge place for 1. But I took it because I felt safe. Or so I thought... The house is extremely hot, with my bedroom being right over the rooftop slab. I'm basically being cooked in there. So I always keep my curtains open once I'm awake.

Keep in mind that my room faces the road, and I'm able to see all the other buildings around me.

About 3 weeks ago, I was on video call with my boyfriend and had the curtains open & lights on. It was around 6.30pm when out of nowhere I saw a red laser light flash over me.

I obviously shot up in shock and fear. I looked out but saw nothing. The street lights were on, but there seemed to be no one around. We coughed it up to kids being idiots and I moved on with life. So… Tuesday was like any other day… I woke up early, made my coffee.

Waited for my bf to finish work (Since he’s in Aussie and the time difference is 5.5 hours.) to get on video call with him.

We spoke, he went to sleep at 7pm (LK time) and I went about my day of cleaning the house, shower, dinner, Netflix… 12 midnight came around and I got online to purchase food since I was running low… Managed to get my order through. By then it was 12.20am.

I tossed and turned as usual and I suppose I fell asleep at 12.40am… with my back to the window, which I keep open but the curtains are always drawn. There are vertical grills on the window but the space between each must be about the 6 inches or less.

I woke up in the dead of the night and turned around. That’s when I felt someone on the bed. The instance that I turned, I felt someone grab me. I tried to scream but his hand covered my mouth and no one heard me.

I tried to grab him by the neck and squeeze, but he squeezed my neck back. That’s when I realized I had to calm down. So I stopped. Once I stopped, he moved off the bed, and I saw him putting his pants on (I could not see properly since I didn’t have my specs on).

By the time I grabbed my specs, he was fully dressed. He was dark, thin, and small. The kind of person who seemed like he was used to hard, manual labor. My first instinct was to get him out of the house. Away from me.

I asked him to leave, but he refused and told me to not shout.... He kept on talking, telling me how he had been watching me from the construction site a few roads down.

How he had seen me from all the way there and had to come to me.

I honestly don’t know how I managed to handle the situation, but he ended up leaving the same way he came, through my window. One of our neighbors had seen him climb up the wall to my floor and called the police.

However, they came 20 minutes AFTER he had left. He had left footprints on my floor and fingerprints on the balcony railings, but the authorities just looked and did not do much (I highly doubt we even have such advanced testing systems in place anyway).

They asked me to come to the Dehiwala Police Station the next morning and file a complaint (I lived in Nedimala. I can guarantee you that I’ll never go back there ever again!).

I called a friend who rushed over to see me even though he had no curfew pass, I grabbed my valuables, a few clothes and walked out of there and was lucky enough to find another place to stay…

So the next day I went to the police station and tried to file a complaint.

But the OIC - Crime Division refused to take down my statement. Saying that they have better things to do and worry about during these times. He kept questioning me as to why I’m a single woman living alone.

It was clear that he blamed me for what happened and obviously had no intention of addressing the event that occurred. What is the purpose of me telling you this story, you ask? Several reasons; We may be independent, single women living alone.

Know that we shall be judged for it. But stand your ground. Stand firm. Be brave, but cautious. There are evils out there that we cannot control, no matter how tough we believe we are.