Udathalawinna Appeal:
All acquitted
Wasantha RAMANAYAKE
The Supreme Court yesterday allowing the Udathalawinna Murder Appeal
by five army personnel set aside their conviction and the death sentence
imposed by the Trial at Bar.
Chief Justice Asoka de Silva delivering the judgment with Justice
Nimal Gamini Amaratunga, Justice Jagath Balapatabendi, Jutice P.A.
Ratanayake and Justice Ms. Chandra Ekanayake agreeing noted that the
conclusion of the Trial at Bar, with regard to the identification of the
firearms used by the appellants with respect to the empty cartridges,
were not tenable in law. “I hold that the High Court should arrive at a
independent conclusion regarding the ultimate issue, the identification
of the firearms with the assistance of the Government Analysts.”
Chief Justice Asoka de Silva noted that by mere adaptation of the
opinion of the Analysts, the Trial-at-Bar had abdicated its function to
the Government Analyst. He held that the finding by the Trial-at-Bar
that the empty cartridges were fired from the respective firearms of the
appellants was invalid since the finding was merely based on the
conclusion of the government analysts, but not on the independent
opinion formed by the court with the assistance of the Analyst. “The
High Court at Bar failed to assess, sift through and consider the
validity of the evidence of Analysts and come to its own conclusions as
regard to the identification of the empty cartridges. This is a case
where the Court had placed itself at the mercy of the Analyst as the
counsel correctly pointed out abdicated its function to the Analyst,”
the Chief Justice observed. The Chief Justice further observed that the
Trial-at Bar had not evaluated the defense of alibi taken by the
appellants that had been substantiated at various stages by other
witness on oath. “The judgment contains just a bare narrative of the
evidence of the alibi,” the CJ noted. He pointed out that no reason had
been given for the rejection of the alibi.
The Chief Justice also held that the identification of the appellants
by the witness was not corroborated by “acceptable evidence” and
therefore, the conviction can not be based on such identification which
remained “solitary and uncorroborated.”
Five accused-appellants W.M.R. Bandara Wijerathne, H.M. Sunil
Chandrasiri, G.H.G. Kamal Wijerathene, E. Anura Kumara, D.M.B. Suranga
Dissanayake appealed to the Supreme Court against the conviction and
death sentence imposed on them by the Trail-at-Bar which heard the
Udathalawinna mass murder case. Attorney General indicted 15 accused
including former Deputy Defense Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and two of
his sons for committing the murder of 10 Muslim youths in Udathalawinna
on December 05, 2005.
The Trail-at-Bar delivering its judgment acquitted ten accused
including the Deputy Defense Minister and two of his sons. Anil Silva
with Chandrika Silva appeared for the accused-appellants.
Additional Solicitor General Palitha Fernando PC with Senior State
Counsel Alan David appeared for the Attorney General.
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