{"id":32173,"date":"2014-07-19T00:38:42","date_gmt":"2014-07-19T04:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=32173"},"modified":"2014-07-19T00:38:42","modified_gmt":"2014-07-19T04:38:42","slug":"upfa-tangalle-pradeshiya-sabha-chairman-sampath-vidanapathirana-and-three-others-sentenced-to-prison-for-20-years-for-murder-of-british-tourist-and-raping-his-girlfriend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=32173","title":{"rendered":"UPFA Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Sampath Vidanapathirana and Three Others Sentenced to Prison for 20 Years for Murder of British Tourist and Raping his Girlfriend."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Dharisha Bastians<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following a high profile trial in which the defence called no witnesses, the Colombo High Court yesterday sentenced a ruling party politician and three others to 20 years in prison for murdering British tourist Khuram Shaikh and raping his Russian girlfriend in 2011.<\/p>\n

Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman and UPFA strongman Sampath Vidanapathirana and three more men were convicted of the murder of the 32-year-old British national and Red Cross worker and the sexual assault of his girlfriend Victoria Alexandrona who were holidaying in Tangalle in 2011.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vidanapathirana was one of six suspects standing trial in court proceedings that commenced in March this year. Two of the suspects were acquitted by the High Court. The fifth and sixth accused were acquitted on the basis that prosecuting attorneys had indicated that there was no evidence against them, the judgment said.<\/p>\n

The other four were sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for their crimes. Defence lawyers were critical of the fact that the High Court Judge had only read out the convictions, sentencing and acquittals, without giving reasons for the convictions.<\/p>\n

The trial lasted just under four months and was marked by witness testimony that went strongly against the accused in the case. The defence team for the six suspects decided to call no witnesses, but Vidanapathirana and others issued statements from the accused box, pleading their innocence. They did not subject themselves to cross examination by state prosecutors.<\/p>\n

The judgment was delivered by High Court Judge Rohini Welgama, before a courtroom packed to capacity and overflowing with media personnel, lawyers and the victim\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

Shaikh\u2019s girlfriend, Alexandrona who gave harrowing testimony at the beginning of the trial, also arrived in Colombo to hear the verdict in the case. Khuram Shaikh\u2019s family was also present in the courtroom to hear yesterday\u2019s judgment delivered.<\/p>\n

The case garnered international attention, after Shaikh\u2019s hometown MP Simon Danszuk and his brother, Nasser Shaikh led a campaign to bring his killers to justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is a symbolic moment: a day the country delivered justice \u2013 a day I delivered my promise to a brother,\u201d Nasser Shaikh said, after his brother\u2019s killers were sentenced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who killed my brother have been punished and are now behind bars for a long time. Our campaign was not only about justice, but to bring awareness of the wonderful work my brother did around the world, working in humanitarian aid,\u201d Shaikh said in a statement yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the country has done what many people hoped and prayed for,\u201d the victim\u2019s brother observed.
\nNasser Shaikh thanked the British Government for being \u201cinstrumental in seeking answers \u201cfor his family and Sri Lankan officials for progressing the trial towards its resolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore importantly, I want to acknowledge the bravery and defiance shown by those who gave witness accounts in the case,\u201d Khuram\u2019s brother Nasser noted.<\/p>\n

The British High Commission in Colombo welcomed yesterday\u2019s verdict and sentences handed down to Shaikh\u2019s murderers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that this will bring some closure for his family and friends who have faced a long and difficult fight for justice,\u201d the High Commission said in a statement released soon after the delivery of the verdict.<\/p>\n

The UK mission said the officials of the Attorney General\u2019s office had shown great professionalism and integrity. \u201cWe would like to thank them. We will continue to monitor any developments in the case closely,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n

The British Government applied heavy pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to act against Khuram Shaikh\u2019s killers, especially in the lead up to the Commonwealth Summit in November last year.
\nAttorneys for Vidanapathirana and the other convicts pledged to appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n

Courtesy”DailyFT<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dharisha Bastians Following a high profile trial in which the defence called no witnesses, the Colombo High Court yesterday sentenced a ruling party politician and three others to 20 years in prison for murdering British tourist Khuram Shaikh and raping his Russian girlfriend in 2011. Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman and UPFA strongman Sampath Vidanapathirana …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘UPFA Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Sampath Vidanapathirana and Three Others Sentenced to Prison for 20 Years for Murder of British Tourist and Raping his Girlfriend.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32174,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32173\/revisions\/32174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}