By Lakmal Sooriyagoda  

The Court of Appeal yesterday ordered to acquit and discharge Ratnapura District SLPP Parliamentarian Premalal Jayasekera alias Choka Malli and two others from the Kahawatta murder case.  

The accused had been sentenced to death by Ratnapura high Court for committing the murder of an individual following a shooting that took place in 2015 during the Presidential Election.  

The Court of Appeal two-judge-bench comprising Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and Justice R. Gurusinghe observed that prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and that the conviction and the sentence imposed on the accused cannot stand. 

 
The Court of Appeal further held that the conviction of the three accused cannot stand in law and ordered them to be acquitted and discharged from all charges in the indictment of the case.  

Handing down the judgement, Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne held that there is no evidence to prove that the three accused Aruna Nilantha Jayasinghe, Wajira Darshana de Silva and Premalal Jayasekera were holding guns or any other weapons in their hands. Not only that, it was crystal clear that the prosecution had failed to prove that the gun shots were fired by the accused during this unfortunate incident.  
‘High Court Judge had analysed the direction of the shot and the location of the appellant’s vehicle. However, the shooter was not identified. According to the evidence led before the trial Judge the shots were fired from the direction of the vehicles. Death of the deceased and the injuries caused to the victims were established but there is no evidence to prove that the three accused had fired the shot and they had intentionally murdered Shantha Dodamgoda and attempted to cause the death of Karunadasa Weerasinghe and Mohamed Hussain Ilshan. Therefore, the High Court Judge was wrong in law and fact to convict the accused for the charges in the indictment,’ Justice Karunaratne observed.  
On July 31, 2020, Premalal Jayasekera and two others were convicted by Ratnapura High Court for committing murder of Shantha Dodamgoda while being engaged in decorating the election stage in Kahawatta area. They were sentenced to death for causing the death of Dodamgoda by shooting and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 296 read with section 146 of the Penal Code.  

Nalin Ladduwahetty PC with Counsel Niran Ankitel, Hafeel Faris, Amila Palliyage, Vajira Ranasinghe, Thusitha Ranasinghe, Buddhika Chandrasekara, Shalika Gunawardana, Kavithri Ubeysekara and Yasas Hewapathirana for Premalal Jayasekera. Anuja Premaratna PC appeared for the first accused. U.R. de Silva PC appeared for the second accused. Saliya Pieris PC appeared for the aggrieved party. Senior Deputy Solicitor General Dilan Rathnayaka appeared for the Attorney General. 

BLURB
The accused had been sentenced to death by Ratnapura high Court for  committing the murder of an individual following a shooting that took  place in 2015 during the Presidential Election