A jealous lover who hit upon a one-sided death-pact and slashed the throat of his younger lover was jailed for five years today.
Belfast Crown Court heard Sri Lankan-born Buddadasa Liyanage (58) feared he'd lost his 28-year-old Limerick born lover Ms Margaret Mary Meade to another and decided they "both should die".
After slashing her with a bread knife, "in a moment of madness" in her Jordanstown Road home on the outskirts of Belfast on August 2nd last year, Liyanage stabbed himself in the chest, neck and wrists.
The pair had begun an "intense" relationship in 1995, and initially were "virtually inseparable", after meeting in Cork where Liyanage, a former marine engineer, had a home.
He later followed her to Belfast when she went to study a post graduate course at the University of Ulster where she now lectures as a sports' psychologist.
But trial judge Mr Justice Higgins said that by last summer the relationship "had begun to crumble" to such an extent where Ms Meade thought she needed time alone to escape Liyanage's increasingly possessive, jealous and controlling nature.
"It seems clear to me that as Miss Meade cooled in her affection for the defendant he became more possessive, jealous and matters came to a head on this particular day," said the judge. "He was an older man who could not cope with the ending of a relationship with a much younger girl and he decided it was best that both should die".
Liyanage was orginally accused of attempting to murder Ms Meade, but the charge was dropped when he pleaded guilty to wounding her with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm.
Jailing him, Mr Justice Higgins said for the sake of Ms Meade he hoped that Liyanage's declaration that he now realised their relationship was over, was true.