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Police have issued a statement addressing media reports that a minor was arrested and held overnight at the Welioya Police Station.
According to the statement, officers visited the home of a woman in Helabawewa, Welioya, who was wanted on an arrest warrant. After presenting the warrant and explaining the charges, officers requested the woman to prepare for transport to the Police station.
However, Police said the woman fled through the back door into a wooded area, leaving her child with the officers and asking them to care for the child.
Police pursued the woman but were unable to locate her due to a power outage around 7:30 p.m.
The child, distressed by the situation, had begun crying. As the child’s father is reportedly in prison and no relatives or neighbours were available to take custody, officers brought the child to the station under the care of a Woman Police officer, where the child had been fed and comforted.
The child’s mother later arrived at the station with her mother-in-law and the local temple’s priest. She was arrested at approximately 8:45 p.m.
Police said the child could have been taken home by the mother-in-law, but the woman chose to remain at the station.
Police stressed that the child was not arrested and had been taken to the station solely for safety reasons. (Newswire)
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