Parramatta’s Sri Lankan community mourns after bombings

Parramatta’s Sri Lankan community is in mourning after the devastating church and hotel bombings that killed more than 200 people in Colombo on Easter Sunday.

The debris of St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade in Colombo. Picture: Chamila Karunarathne/Getty Images

Parramatta’s Sri Lankan community is in mourning after the devastating church and hotel bombings that killed more than 200 people in Colombo on Easter Sunday.

Girraween Dr Chandrika Subramaniyan, who was born in Colombo, said St Anthony’s Shrine was a sacred place of worship for people of several faiths.

Dr Chandrika Subramaniyan. Picture: Angelo Velardo

“Tamils are there and also a lot of Muslims and Christians, Hindus and so it’s very multicultural,’’ she said.

A frequent visitor to St Anthony’s, the solicitor, who is Hindu, said many homeless Sri Lankans prayed at St Anthony’s altar for a house.

The co-ordinated explosions also rocked churches in Negombo and Batticaloa.

A suicide bomber’s first explosion went off at St Anthony’s at 8.45am on Sunday when worshippers were praying.

“I was shocked because I saw one of the ladies with a broken statue of Mother Mary because every time we go to St Anthony’s we sat in front of the altar where Mother Mary was kept and that was broken because of the bomb shock,’’ Dr Subramaniyan said.

St Sebastian's Church at Katuwapitiya in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Picture: STR /AFP

“It happened on Easter Sunday and ... it’s a highly-saturated Tamil area and it was Tamil prayer time.”

Fortunately, one of her cousins from Baulkham Hills had returned home on Friday after two weeks in Sri Lanka, including Colombo.

Dr Subramaniyan was named this year’s Cumberland Citizen of the Year for helping migrants and refugees at Wentworthville.