Febrio De Zoysa, a 20-year-old Sri Lankan national, has pleaded guilty to killing six people — including four children, their mother, and a family friend — in a mass stabbing that shocked Ottawa’s Barrhaven community in March 2024. He also admitted to the attempted murder of Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, the children’s father, who survived the attack with severe injuries.
At the time, De Zoysa was a 19-year-old international student living with the Wickramasinghe family in their basement. He was arrested at the scene and later charged with six counts of first-degree murder.
On Thursday, standing in Superior Court in Ottawa beside his lawyer Ewan Lyttle, De Zoysa pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of:
Ranaya Wickramasinghe, age 3
Ashwini Wickramasinghe, age 4
Inuka Wickramasinghe, age 7
Gamini Amarakoon, 40, a family friend and tenant
He also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for killing Darshani Ekanayake, 35, and her two-month-old baby Kelly Wickramasinghe.
Under Canadian law, first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no parole for 25 years, while parole eligibility for second-degree murder will be determined by Justice Kevin Phillips after submissions from both sides.
A calculated attack
Crown attorney Dallas Mack told the court that De Zoysa had planned the killings five days before they took place. In police interviews, he admitted that the family had “been nothing but good to me” but said he attacked them because he had run out of money, feared deportation, and felt “too weak” to end his own life.
De Zoysa described deciding to “bash out” and kill the family after buying a 38-centimetre hunting knife online — originally intended for suicide.
The day of the killings
On March 6, 2024, De Zoysa first lured tenant Gamini Amarakoon to his basement room and fatally stabbed him. When seven-year-old Inuka heard the screams, his mother Darshani called her husband for help. De Zoysa convinced them it was just a movie playing downstairs, then went upstairs and killed Darshani, her four children, and the infant in quick succession.
Afterward, he waited in the house for hours, watching TikToks and preparing for Dhanushka’s return. When the father came home late that night, De Zoysa ambushed him with the knife but was eventually overpowered.
The injured father escaped to a neighbour’s home, screaming that “someone killed my children,” while De Zoysa followed with another knife. Police arrived to find De Zoysa calmly sitting on the steps, confessing:
“I was going to be deported. I had no choice. I killed them all.”
First responders found the victims inside the home, all beyond help. Dhanushka Wickramasinghe underwent multiple surgeries and survived.
The case, described by Ottawa’s mayor as “one of the most horrifying acts of violence the city has ever seen,” drew attention across Canada and Sri Lanka. Sentencing proceedings will determine De Zoysa’s parole eligibility for the second-degree murder counts.
