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| Tuesday, 25 March 2003 |
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by Kumar Wethasinghe The jury in the Grandpass double murder case yesterday acquitted all 19 accused of murder, but found four of them guilty of trespass and causing damage to the premises where an elderly couple and another person lived, when the trial concluded before the High Court of Colombo. The High Court Judge Sri Skandarajah imposed a sentence of 17 years Rigorous Imprisonment and Rs. 10,000 fine on each of the four guilty men. The court also said that the sentence would be served concurrently. Judge Skandarajah observed that although the accused are acquitted of the major charges brought against, by the verdict jury, the jury itself had found four accused guilty on two counts including forcibly entering the rented premises of an old couple in the night causing damage to their property injuring one inmate and leaving the old couple dead. "This is not a simple matter that can be ignored in order to ensure peaceful living and to avoid repetition of such unlawful behaviour in the future, the court is duty bound to impose deterrent punishment to the four convicts," the judge said in his judgement. The four convicts are Mohamed Haniffa Mohamed Ishami, Mohamed Irshan, Mohamed Aslam Amir and Mohamed Ibrahim Ameer. The Attorney General had charged 19 accused on thirteen counts on each including the committing of murders of Edirisinghe Arachchilage David Perera and Edirisinghe Arachchilage Amarasiri Perera and causing injury to Deepani Perera at Grandpass on February 20, 1995. By the verdict of jury, court acquitted 15 of the accused. State Counsel Dhamith Totawatta appeared for the prosecution. |
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