Frenchman brutalized by drunken revellers

By Nelani De Costa and Thilini Weerasooriya-2016-08-08

French national Dominique Cardinaud escaped certain death, at the hands of a group of drunken revellers in Matara on 2 August.
The group, angered by his attempts to stop them continuing a prolonged disturbance, was near to killing the 60-year-old Frenchman when a neighbour rushed to his rescue.

Cardinaud was rushed to hospital with several broken ribs and in deep trauma.
The group was partying at a house next to Cardinaud's and he had gone to the fence hours after the disturbance began and blown a horn as loud as he could to attract their attention, because of the very loud noise they were making. However, instead of apologizing, the men had hopped across the fence and assaulted him. They then proceeded to drag him across the fence to a nearby stream and had held him by his neck under water in an apparent attempt to kill him, when a neighbour burst on the scene.

The full account of what transpired was unclear because his wife, also deeply traumatized, spoke to Ceylon Today through an interpreter.

Cardinaud and his wife Edith first came here as tourists in 2004, when the Tsunami disaster struck and stayed back to help with relief operations. They fell in love with the country and came back six years ago and have lived here ever since, at their residence in Matara.
A French Embassy source confirmed that Cardinaud and his wife had been of great assistance to Tsunami victims for a long time.
Matara Police said only one suspect had been arrested. There was no further information at the time of writing.