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| Thursday, 20 January 2005 |
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by Sarath Malalasekera President's Counsel Thirantha Walaliyedda who opened his defence of Mohamed Niyas Nawfer alias Potta Nawfer, sixth suspect in Judge Sarath Ambepitiya's murder was greeted by boos and catcalls from colleagues when he rose to address the Colombo Magistrate's Court yesterday. The hooting and slogan shouting came from a group of lawyers who stood behind the Bar Table. The disturbance lasted for several minutes throwing the morning's proceedings of the Court presided by Colombo Chief Magistrate and Additional District Judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena into disarray. Amidst the pandemonium, Judge Weerawardena adjourned proceedings of the Ambepitiya case and proceeded with the other trial cases. When the case was called by Mudliyar S.A. Rohana for the second time, Walaliyedda submitted to court that the investigators had removed his client to a different location after the arrest and assaulted him severely. The President's Counsel told court that his client wanted to make a complaint regarding the assault to the CID and to make an order accordingly. Judge Weerawardena: Follow the normal procedure to make a complaint to the police. President's Counsel A totally independent body should record the complaint of my client. After the submissions by the Senior Counsel, the Judge directed the Inspector General of Police to appoint an officer to record Nawfer's complaint. Neil Dias who watched the interests of Judge Ambepitiya's family told court that the President's Counsel's name appeared in several newspapers before he appeared in court today. On an application by State Counsel Haripriya Jayasundera the Judge ordered the Registrar of the Court to issue certified copies of the fingerprints and Government Analyst's reports to the prosecutors. State Counsel Haripriya Jayasundera requested Court to keep the record in this case in Court custody. ASP Rohana Jayawardena of the CCD told court that they have completed the investigations into the case and the dossier of the investigations will be forwarded to the Attorney General for his advice. The Judge also allowed an application by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to record a statement from Nawfer at the remand prison by ASP Lalith C. Gunawardena, Inspector Mahagedera and Sergeant Jayasinghe of the SIU on January 25. |
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