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Udathalawinna Appeal:

All acquitted

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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