‘The stuff of nightmares’: Judge hands man life sentence for mass murder of family

A man who pleaded guilty to killing a mother, her four children and a family friend in a mass stabbing in Ottawa in 2024 has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

Febrio De-Zoysa pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of first degree murder, two counts of second degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Darshani Ekanayake, 35, and her four children, Inuka, 7, Ashwini, 4, Ranaya, 3, and Kelly, a baby just two months old, were all killed in the attack.

Gamini Amarakoon, 40, a family friend, was also killed, while the children’s father, Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, was injured.

Justice Kevin Phillips called it one of the worst crimes in the city’s history, telling De-Zoysa he destroyed “two beautiful families” and shook the community “to its core.”

Phillips said De-Zoysa violated the trust of a family that took him into their home and that he used the knife to “grotesque effect.” He called the level of violence involved “stupefying, monstrous — even demonic.”

“You are the stuff of nightmares,” the judge said. “You have caused so much loss and grief. If I could give consecutive life sentences, I would.”

A 2022 Supreme Court of Canada ruling determined consecutive sentences for first-degree murder were unconstitutional.

Phillips sentenced De-Zoysa to life without parole for 25 years for the murder convictions, and to 25 years for the attempted murder charge, to run concurrently.

The killings took place in Barrhaven, a fast-growing suburb about 20 kilometres south of Ottawa’s downtown.

All the victims, except the youngest child, were Sri Lankan nationals who arrived in the city within the past several years. The baby was born in Canada.

De-Zoysa was 19 years old and living in Canada as an international student at the time of the murders. He was staying in the basement of the family’s rented townhouse and attended Algonquin College in Ottawa.

The victims’ family members read out impact statements in the packed courtroom Thursday. Amarakoon’s wife sobbed as she read her statement by video.

A statement from his teenage daughter was read out in court. The court also heard about the impact on his younger daughter, who is three years old.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2025.

— With files from Kyle Duggan