JUDGMENT

B. Sasi Mahendran, J.

The Accused-Appellant (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Accused’) was indicted before the High Court of Kegalle for committing murder of Wijesundara Mudiyanselage Punchi Appuhamy an offence punishable under Section 296 of the Penal Code . After the trial, the learned High Court Judge convicted the accused guilty and the death sentence was imposed.

Being aggrieved by the said conviction and sentence, the Accused had preferred an appeal to this court and submitted the following grounds of appeal:

1. Whether the Learned High Court Judge of Kegalla has failed to give the benefit of the arising doubts to the benefit of the Accused-Appellant?

2. The previous and the post behaviour of the Accused

The prosecution led the evidence through 12 witnesses, and marked productions from P1 to P7 and thereafter closed its case. After the conclusion of the prosecution case, the accused, in his defence, made a dock statement.

The facts and the circumstances are briefly summarised as follows:

According to the testimony of PW 01, Weerakkodi Arachchige Nandawathi, the Accused son-in-law of the deceased, Wijesundara Mudiyanselage Punchi Appuhamy allegedly visited the latter’s resi