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# “We Had Planned Our Wedding for April”
- URL: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/we-had-planned-our-wedding-for-april/
- Published: 2026-11-09T04:18:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-09T04:20:00.000Z
- Author: Our Reporter
- Tags: November 2026

On Oct. 5, Niroshan Arumainayagam was on the telephone from Switzerland with the woman he was going to marry. Anne Laksha Ignatius was telling him about the trouble a former student had been causing her. Then, he says, she heard shouting, told him she would go and see what was happening, and the call was cut off. She did not call back.

Ms. Ignatius, a culinary and hospitality instructor born in 1994, was stabbed to death that evening at her family’s home on Temple Road in Nallur, Jaffna. Her mother was also stabbed during the attack but has since recovered. The man who killed her, Thevathas Pugalarasan, a former student of hers in his early twenties, died later that night after being hit by a train near Ariyalai.

In the days after her death, posts on Tamil social media speculated about her private life and her relationship with him, and a photograph of the two of them was widely shared. The picture had been edited: the original was a group photograph with several other people, who had been removed so that only she and the suspect remained.

On Oct. 16, Mr. Arumainayagam, who goes by Niroshan Anne Laksha on Facebook, posted a video filmed at her grave. “I really miss you ma,” he wrote, using a Tamil term of endearment. Beneath it he added: “my love,” “my wife,” “my baby.” The post was widely shared and shifted some of the conversation about her.

Mr. Arumainayagam, a chef in Martigny, in the Swiss canton of Valais, had known Ms. Ignatius for about 20 years. He says they had been together for about four years and planned to marry in April, after she finished her master’s degree. She and her daughter were to join him in Switzerland.

Speaking to Jaffna Monitor in Tamil, he described the woman he knew, the young man he says she tried to help, and their last call.

## **“Since we were children”**

**How long had you known Lakshana?**

About 20 years, since we were children. Her younger sister and my younger sister were best friends, so our families knew each other.

I knew about her previous marriage and the difficulties she had been through. We had been in a relationship for about four years.

**When were you planning to marry?**

In April. She was completing her master’s degree, and we planned the wedding around that. She was preparing to come to Switzerland, and we had already started making the arrangements.

Everything was moving forward. We never imagined something like this would happen.

**Was her daughter going to come too?**

Yes, of course. I looked after that child as if she were my own daughter. I knew what she had been through from a very young age, and I wanted her to grow up somewhere safe and happy.

We were going to live together as a family.

**What kind of person was she?**

She was a very innocent person. If she saw somebody suffering, she would help them without thinking about what she had left for herself. She helped students who had studied with her, students she had taught, and people older than her. She didn’t expect anything in return.

That was her nature.

**Can you give an example?**

When there was flooding in the Negombo area, we went to help the families who were affected. We meant to provide food for one meal. But when we saw how they were living, we couldn’t just give them food and leave. Some had lost their clothes. Some didn’t even have utensils to make tea. We used the money we had to buy food, clothes and other necessities.

Even if she didn’t have enough for herself, she would help someone who was struggling.

## **The student**

**How did the young man who killed her become close to her?**

He was her student. She treated him like her own child. There was nothing beyond that. He wasn’t the only student she helped. There were many others.

He told her about problems in his family and his money troubles. He would say he had no job and no money. He was only 22\. Because she felt sorry for him, she helped him.

Over time he got to know her family and started visiting their house. He became almost like a family friend.

**How did she help him?**

In many ways. When he needed medical treatment, she helped him. If he needed to go somewhere or buy something, she would help. She gave him money when he needed it. Sometimes he would ask her to arrange a loan for him, and because she felt sorry for him, she helped.

He said he would repay it gradually. Then he started creating problems and refused. I told her not to give him any more.

She trusted people easily.

**Did you help him yourself?**

Yes. When I came to Sri Lanka on holiday, I helped him because he was struggling. Once he sent me a message saying he would never forget the help I had given him. He said he owed me money. I told him he didn’t need to pay me back, that he should concentrate on his own life.

I never imagined that somebody we had helped would do something like this.

**When did his behaviour begin to trouble her?**

Over time he started behaving differently. He wanted to be around her all the time. Sometimes he would turn up without being invited. If she went shopping or travelled somewhere, he would follow her, sometimes on his bicycle. He would say negative things about others and make himself out to be the only person she could trust.

**Do you think he had developed feelings for her?**

Perhaps he had developed one-sided feelings. Perhaps he imagined something that was never there. I can’t say what he was thinking.

But Lakshana did not have that kind of relationship with him. She treated him as a student.

**Why didn’t she confront him in public?**

She didn’t like creating scenes. She had already been through a lot in her life, and she was afraid that if people saw her arguing with a young man, they would start making up stories about her.

He understood that. I believe he took advantage of it.

**Did she cut off contact?**

Yes. She blocked him. But he couldn’t accept it. He kept coming back and asking, “What have I done to you? I haven’t done anything. Why are you blocking me?”

Towards the end, he started behaving in a way that made her child uncomfortable. Once it affected the child, she decided she couldn’t tolerate it any longer.

**Did he threaten her?**

Lakshana told me that after she blocked him, he threatened her child. According to what she told me, he said something like, “I will kill your mother. Let us see what your mother can do.”

**Did anyone try to stop him?**

When I was in Sri Lanka, I spoke to him the way I would speak to a younger brother. I told him he knew what the problem was and that he should stop troubling her. He apologised. Then he went to Lakshana’s house, apologised to her mother as well, and promised not to do it again.

I thought the matter was settled. But he carried on.

Lakshana also contacted his mother and explained what was happening. She made it clear that things had gone too far and that she intended to make a police complaint.

**Did she think he might kill her?**

No. Never. She thought that if she avoided him, he would eventually leave her alone. Neither her family nor I imagined he was capable of something like this.

## **The last call**

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/aa/f0aaf7b7-6b61-437a-846a-1a80de683912/content/images/2026/11/we-had-planned-our-wedding-for-a538de-1.jpg)

Anne Laksha Ignatius, remembered at her family’s home in Jaffna.

**You were on the telephone with her shortly before the attack. What was she telling you?**

She was telling me about the problems he had been creating. At one point she said she could hear shouting. She told me somebody was making noise and that she would go and see what was happening.

Then the call was disconnected.

**What did you do when she didn’t call back?**

At first I thought she would call me again. Sometimes, when somebody in her family came home, she would end the call and contact me later. But this time she didn’t call back.

I tried calling her. There was no answer. After about ten minutes I was getting more and more worried. I tried other numbers too. I couldn’t reach anyone straight away.

**What did you learn afterwards?**

From what I learned, he came to the house shouting. He confronted her mother and demanded to know why they had spoken to his mother about him. He was shouting something like, “Why did you say those things to my mother?” Then he attacked her mother with a knife.

Since an accident when she was young, Lakshana could lose consciousness from a severe shock or at the sight of blood. From what I understand, when she saw her mother being attacked, she fainted. After she fainted, he attacked her. Then he left.

**Do you believe it was planned?**

I believe he had planned something. He knew the house and the family. He knew I was in Switzerland and couldn’t come straight away. He knew her family weren’t the kind of people who would get into fights.

But I can’t say exactly what his plan was. I don’t know whether his original intention was to kill her.

## **After her death**

**You have objected to some of what was said about Lakshana after her death. Why?**

Some reports have been completely wrong. People published things without knowing what actually happened. They made allegations about her character.

All of this can affect her daughter. She has already suffered enough. Even if she doesn’t read these stories now, she may see them when she is older. People may repeat them to her.

**A photograph showing Lakshana with the suspect has circulated online. What do you know about it?**

The original photograph was taken with other students. Someone edited it to make it look as though the two of them were standing together. Some news organisations published that version.

There was no romantic relationship between them. She was his teacher. He was her student.

**Who is looking after her daughter now?**

Her family. I have always cared about the child, and that hasn’t changed. I had been saving money for her, and Lakshana had been putting money aside too, so that she would receive it when she turned 18.

Once Lakshana told me that if anything happened to her, I should make sure her daughter was looked after. I told her not to think like that. I said, “Nothing like that is going to happen. Whatever needs to be done for the child, I will do it.”

I never imagined it would actually happen.

**How is she now?**

She is very upset. She has gone back to school, and she is getting support.

For now, I have deliberately reduced how often I speak to her. She was very attached to me, and we are living far apart. When I speak to her, she may start thinking about her mother and everything that happened. I want her to recover. Perhaps after a few months, we can speak more regularly.

## **“I miss hearing her voice”**

**How are you coping?**

I don’t know how to explain it. We had so many plans together. Even though I was in Switzerland and she was in Sri Lanka, we spoke every day. She knew my work schedule and would call before I left for work and during my breaks. She would ask whether I had eaten. If I was working too much, she would remind me to rest. Even if she went to a shop, she would send me a message saying where she was going.

She was not simply someone I was planning to marry. She was my life partner.

**What has been the hardest part?**

The sudden absence of someone who was part of my everyday life. She was always there. Now those calls and messages have stopped. Sometimes I find myself thinking about what she would have been doing at a particular time.

Even if my parents or other family members are around me, it is not the same. There is an emptiness.

**What do you miss most about her?**

Her voice. I miss hearing her voice.

Now, when the time comes when she would normally call, I remember her. I know she is not going to call, but I still think about it.

It is very difficult.