Dying declarations can serve as the sole basis for conviction if found credible, with no strict requirement for corroboration.

JUDGMENT

B. Sasi Mahendran, J.

The Accused- Appellants (hereinafter referred to as the Accused) were indicted before the High Court of Kalutara for committing the offence of murder of one Hettige Premajiwa alias Ranji on 23.06.2007 punishable under Section 296 read together with Section 32 of the Penal Code as amended.

The Prosecution led the evidence through eleven witnesses and marking productions from P1 to P6 and thereafter closed its case. The Accused gave evidence from the dock and called one witness in defence. At the conclusion of the trial, the Learned High Court Judge by judgment dated 07.09.2020, found the Accused guilty of murder and imposed the death sentence.

Being aggrieved by the afore-mentioned conviction and the sentence, the Accused has preferred this appeal to this Court.

The grounds of appeal as urged by the Accused are as follows;

1. The High Court has not considered the contradictions in the prosecution case

2. The Court did not properly consider the defence case.

3. The Learned High Court Judge has not properly considered the weaknesses and the non-credibility of the Prosecution witnesses.

4. The order was given in contradiction to the evidence placed before the Court.

According to the evidence placed before the Learned High Court Judge, the prosecution has relied on three dying declarations made by the deceased to PW1, PW3, and PW4.

Before we analysing the legal issues, it is pertinent to delve into the facts as revealed at the trial Court.

According to PW1, Kannan Thudawage Kanthi who is the wife of the deceased, before the incident happened on 23.06.2007, she had lodged a complaint to the Bulathsinhala Police on 27.05.2007 about an incident of cutting the tire of the deceased’s bike by the 1st and 2nd Accused which was settled.

Later, she had lodged another complaint to the Bulathsinhala Police on 13.06.2007 about a threat made by the 4th Accused to PW1 that, “උඹේ මිනිහව මරනවා මරනවාමයි කියලා.”

However, such complaint was not investigated.

According to her, the deceased had told her that the 4 Accused in this case have an enmity with the deceased.

On page 87-88 of the brief;

“ⶽ෻: ඔබඹේ පුරුෂයා කියලා තිබුණාද කවුරු හරි අමනාපයි කියලා?

උ: නැ. ඹේ 4 ඹදනා විතරයි.

ⶽ෻: ඹේ 4 ඹදනා කියන්ඹන් කවුද?

උ: උපුලුයි, උඹේන්ර යි, ජයශාන්ත යි ඉන්ිකයි.

ⶽ෻: වි්තතිකරුවන් 4 ඹදනා අමනාපයි කියලා තමුන්ඹේ පුරුෂයා කියලා තිඹබනවද?

උ: කිව්වා.

ⶽ෻: ඒ පුරුෂයා මිය යාමට ඹකාච්චර විතර කාලයකට කලින්ද?

උ: ඹේ ර්᭔ු වුණු දවඹ ේ ඉඳන් තමි තරහා ඹවලා කියලා කිව්ඹව්. ⶽ෻: පුරුෂයා කිව්ඹව් ඹමාන වඹේ අමනාපයක් තිඹබනවා කියලාද?

උ: එයාලඹේ කසිේපුවලට ඔ්තුවක් ඹේමජිව දුන්නා කියලා තමයි තරහ කියලා.”

As stated by PW1, on the day in question, the deceased had left home with the equipment and had asked PW1 not to bring lunch as usual but he would come home for lunch. Then she had received a call around 1.15 PM saying the deceased had fallen on the estate. Then she had managed to send her brother, Shantha Kumara, PW3, and an aunt to the scene as she was not in a position to go because of the child.

Later, the deceased was taken in a three-wheeler by the said brother, and the aunt and PW1 had joined her brother to take the deceased to the hospital. When she saw the deceased, he was bleeding. Right after she got into the said three-wheeler, the deceased had told her that Upul, Upendra, Indika, and Dora, who are the Accused in this case had hit him.

On page 93 of the brief;

“ⶽ෻: ඊටප ේඹ ේ පුරුෂයා ේබන්ධඹයන් ඹමානවද කඹේ?

උ: ඊටප ේඹ ේමම නැේග ගමන්ම එයා කිව්වා මට උපුලුයි, උඹේන්ර යි, ඉන්ිකයි, ඹ ෝරයි හතර ඹදනා්ත එක්ක එකු ඹවලා ගැහුවා. ඹේරගන්න ඹගා ක් ඹ නඟ හිටියා. ඒ අයට ඹේරගන්න බැරි වුනා කියලා.”

According to her, the deceased was in a state where he could speak when he said that to her.

Later, when the deceased was taken to the Bulathsinhala Hospital, they were asked to take him to Horana Hospital as his condition was serious. Accordingly, he was admitted to the Horana Hospital. Later, on the same day around 7.30 to 8 PM, the Police has informed PW1 that her husband passed away.

According to PW3, Kannan Thudawage Shantha Kuma