{"id":48347,"date":"2016-09-08T18:07:05","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T22:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=48347"},"modified":"2016-09-08T18:07:05","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T22:07:05","slug":"duminda-silva-should-be-held-responsible-for-the-whole-incident-observes-high-court-judge-padmini-n-ranawaka-in-bharatha-lakshman-premachandra-murder-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=48347","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDuminda Silva Should be Held Responsible for the Whole Incident\u201d Observes High Court Judge Padmini N. Ranawaka in Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra Murder Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

By
\nLakmal Sooriyagoda <\/strong><\/p>\n

Five accused including former Defence Ministry Monitoring MP Duminda Silva were yesterday sentenced to death by Colombo High Court for committing the murder of four persons including former MP Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra on October 8, 2011.<\/p>\n

However, the verdict was divided two to one with Judges Pathmini N.Ranawaka and M.C.B.S. Moraes finding five accused guilty on 10 charges including committing and conspiring to commit the murder of four people while Justice Shiran Gunaratne the President of Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar found the thirteen accused not guilty of all seventeen charges.<\/p>\n

While handing out the judgment two Judges Pathmini N. Ranawaka Gunatilleke and M.C.B.S. Moraes unanimously decided that the prosecutors have proved the five accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

High Court Judge Pathmini N. Ranawaka Gunatilleke observed that the provocative behaviour of the eleventh accused Duminda Silva led to the whole incident.<\/p>\n

The Judge further observed that the evidence have proved that Duminda Silva had provided leadership to the unruly behaviour of the mob and therefore he should be held responsibility for the whole incident. She further observed that the JMO reports have revealed that Duminda Silva was under the influence of liquor at the time of the incident, but deceased Bharatha Premachandra was not so.
\n<\/strong>
\n<\/em>
\nHowever, High Court Judge Shiran Gunaratne found all accused not guilty citing there are no substantial evidence to charge them under 17 counts.<\/p>\n

He observed that the evidence presented by the investigative officers were contradictory in nature and the benefit of the doubt should go to the accused.<\/p>\n

The accused who were ordered to be sentenced to death were; Duminda Silva, Anura Thushara de Mel, Chaminda Ravi Jayanath alias Dematagoda Chaminda, Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Sarath Bandara and Janaka Bandara Galagoda. The trial commenced in in absentia of the tenth accused Janaka Bandara Galagoda.<\/p>\n

Following the conclusion of the trial, High Court Judge Pathmini N.Ranawaka Gunatilleke read out the sentence ordering the five convicts to be taken to the Welikada Prison and within the four walls of the prison that on a day and time appointed by the President that they be hanged by the neck until they are dead.<\/p>\n

Apart from the death sentence, the Colombo High Court ordered the five accused to pay a fine of Rs. 40,000 each.<\/p>\n

The accused who were ordered to be acquitted and released from the case were; Chandana Jagath Kumara, Lanka Rasanjana, Malaka Sameera, Widanagamage Amila, Suranga Premalal, Saman Kumara Abeywickrema and Rohana Marasinghe.<\/p>\n

The accused were charged under 17 counts including committing and conspiring to commit murder of four individual, inflicting gunshot injuries, unlawful assembly and criminal intimidation on or around October 08, 2011.<\/p>\n

The accused had been charged under section 296, 140, 146, 147, 486 and 300 of the Penal Code. They were further charged under the offences of Firearms Act. Prior to the pronouncement of the judgment, the High Court asked all accused whether they have anything to say why judgment of death should not be pronounced against them.<\/p>\n

In reply, all accused denied the charges levelled against them and said they were never involved in this incident.<\/p>\n

The Colombo High Court began trial on September 12, 2015 on a day-to-day basis and concluded both prosecution and defence hearing into the matter. The Attorney General had called 42 witnesses and presented in Courts 126 documents including the Government\u2019s Analysts reports and JMO reports.<\/p>\n

The accused had been charged under 17 counts including the killing of Bharatha Premachandra, Dharshana Jayathilaka, Mohamed Azmy and Manivel Kumaraswamy and inflicting gunshot injuries on Mr. Premachandra\u2019s bodyguard Rajapurage Gamini after being members of an unlawful assembly on October 8, 2011, at Walpola, Mulleriyawa.<\/p>\n

President\u2019s Counsel Anil de Silva appeared for Duminda Silva. Counsel Anuja Premaratne, Nalin Indatissa, Nalin Weerakoon and Asoka Weerasuriya appeared for other accused. Counsel Asela Rekawa appeared for the eighth accused who was acquitted by High Court. Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige appeared for the Attorney General.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Daily News<\/em><\/p>\n

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

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda Five accused including former Defence Ministry Monitoring MP Duminda Silva were yesterday sentenced to death by Colombo High Court for committing the murder of four persons including former MP Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra on October 8, 2011. However, the verdict was divided two to one with Judges Pathmini N.Ranawaka and M.C.B.S. Moraes finding …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘\u201cDuminda Silva Should be Held Responsible for the Whole Incident\u201d Observes High Court Judge Padmini N. Ranawaka in Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra Murder Trial’ »<\/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\/48347"}],"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=48347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48348,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48347\/revisions\/48348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}