Delays in criminal justice system: Child victim of rape case gives evidence 9 years after incident

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

It transpired in a Court of Appeal judgement that a child victim of a rape case began her testimony at the trial about nine years after the alleged incident, by which time she was a 21-year-old married woman.  

This judgement relates to an appeal filed by the accused, who was sentenced to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment for committing the offence of raping a minor between October 7, 2007 and October 6, 2008, at a place within the jurisdiction of the Chilaw High Court.  

The victim of this incident has been listed to give evidence as a prosecution witness in the indictment. She commenced her evidence at the trial on September 11 2017, about 9 years after the alleged incident. By that time, she was a 21-year-old married woman. It was revealed that the victim was born in 1996.  

After trial, the High Court Judge of Chilaw found the accused guilty as charged of the judgement dated July 26, 2019, about 11 years after the alleged incident. The High Court Judge sentenced the accused to 15 years rigorous imprisonment. In addition, the accused has been ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 25,000. The accused has also been ordered to pay Rs. 250,000 as compensation and it has been ordered that it should be recovered as a fine. Being aggrieved by his conviction and the sentences, the accused filed this appeal before the Court of Appeal.  
In their judgement, the Court of Appeal’s two-judge bench comprising Justices Sampath Abayakoon and P. Kumararatnam decided to dismiss the appeal, citing a lack of merit in the grounds of the appeal.