In a startling revelation one of the main witnesses in the murder of British aid worker Khuram Shaikh, the Hotel Manageress said that the Tangalle Police had distorted what she had said in her First Information Report to the Police on December 24, 2011.

Manageress Tharanga Peries said today in court that the Police had both added and subtracted in their recording what she had said told the Police initally.
She was cross-examined today by the lawyer for the 1st accused, Jayantha Weerasinghe PC.

“I don’t know the make of a gun and therefore I did not identify the gun as a pistol or a T-56,” she said.

Giving evidence on an earlier date, the witness said that one of the accused had threatened her at gunpoint and told her not to call the Police.

The Lawyer had questioned her on the statement recorded by the Police which indicated that she had identified the gun as a “Pistol” and thereafter as a “ T-56”.
“The Police also have not recorded the fact that I said that Victoria was assaulted by one of the accused. They have not written what I have said about the assault of Victoria but written other things,” she said.

She said that the initial statement was not read over to her, prior to getting her signature.

The trial will commence tomorrow at 9.30 a.m. at the Colombo High Court. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)