IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA In the matter of an Appeal under and in terms of Section 331 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979.

Court of Appeal No: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri CA/HCC/0008/2019 Lanka.

COMPLAINANT Vs.

High Court of Anuradhapura Iguruwaththa Gedara Senarathne Case No: HC/105/2010 Ranathunga alias Gamini ACCUSED AND NOW BETWEEN Iguruwaththa Gedara Senarathne Ranathunga alias Gamini ACCUSED-APPELLANT Vs.

The Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12.

COMPLAINANT-RESPONDENT Before : Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

: P. Kumararatnam, J.

Counsel : Rizwan Uwais for the Accused-Appellant : Lishan Ratnayake, S.C. for the Respondent Argued on : 03-06-2024 Written Submissions : 30-09-2019 (By the Accused-Appellant)

: 21-06-2022 (By the Respondent)

Decided on : 07-08-2024 Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

The accused-appellant (hereinafter referred to as the appellant) was indicted before the High Court of Anuradhapura for causing the death of one Sandunika Upeksha Lakmali at a place called Sampathgama, Sudharshanagama within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Anuradhapura on or about 21-06-2005, and thereby committing the offence of murder, punishable in terms of section 296 of the Penal Code.

After trial without a jury, the learned High Court Judge of Anuradhapura of his judgment dated 06-02-2019, found the appellant guilty as charged, and accordingly, sentenced him to death.

On the basis of being aggrieved by the said conviction and the sentence, the appellant preferred this appeal.

Facts in Brief The evidence led at the trial shows that the deceased had been a 3-year-old minor girl child when she faced this unfortunate death. The evidence also reveals that the deceased child had been handed over to the appellant and his wife to be cared for by the grandmother of the child, who was the person who had the custody of her before she was handed over to the appellant and his wife.

The evidence given by several fellow villagers shows that the child had been ill- treated and subjected to assault and various other forms of cruelty while being under the care of the appellant and his wife. The evidence also reveals that the appellant and his wife had been attempting to hand over the child to an institution as they could not afford to care for the child. The evidence given by the Grama Niladhari of the area and the Child Welfare Officer reveals that fact. According to the evidence of PW-07 Sumanawathi, who was the sister of the appellant’s wife, on the day of the incident, the appellant has come to her house which was situated near the house of the appellant around 12.30 – 1.00 in the afternoon, while carrying the deceased child. She has observed the child’s neck tilted to one side and the child was unconscious.

When questioned, the appellant has replied that while coming towards their house both of them fell. Thereafter, on her advice, the appellant has taken the child to be admitted to the hospital. She has come to know later that the child has passed away.

According to the evidence of PW-10, while he was going to the boutique to purchase some provisions, he has seen a person walking with a small child while the child being repeatedly assaulted using a stick. The child has been crying which has alerted the witness to observe what was happening. He has seen this incident about 50 meters away from the place where he was, and has thought that he would have been the father of the child. He has identified the appellant at the trial as the person who was assaulting the child at that time.

According to the evidence of PW-11, the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) who conducted the post-mortem of the deceased child, marked as X-1 during the trial, has observed 13 external injuries and 3 internal injuries on her body. The main injury observed, namely the injury number 01, had been to the left side of the forehead which was an oval shaped contusion. While giving evidence, the JMO ha