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

Court of Appeal No: The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri CA/HCC/0440/2019 Lanka COMPLAINANT Vs.

High Court of Colombo Wijemuni Madhura Manaranga De Silva Case No: HC/8075/15 ACCUSED AND NOW BETWEEN Wijemuni Madhura Manaranga De Silva ACCUSED-APPELLANT Vs.

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

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

: P. Kumararatnam, J.

Counsel : Kapila Waidyaratne, P.C. with Akkila Jayasundara and Akhila Mathishi for the Accused-Appellant : Ayesha Jinasena, P.C., Solicitor General, with Malik Azeez, S.C. for the Complainant-Respondent Argued on : 11-07-2024, 12-07-2024, 17-07-2024, 18-07-2024, and 24-07-2024.

Written Submissions : 30-04-2021 (By the Accused-Appellant)

: 21-09-2021 (By the Complainant-Respondent)

Decided on : 15-10-2024 Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

The accused-appellant (hereinafter referred to as the appellant) was indicted before the High Court of Colombo for committing the following offences.

1. That he caused the death of Pihimbiyage Sachethana Sandamali on 16-

12-2012 at Ratmalana within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Colombo, and thereby committed the offence of murder punishable in terms of section 296 of the Penal Code.

2. At the same time and at the same transaction, he caused the death of Wijemuni Ishan Bhanuka De Silva, and thereby committed the offence of murder punishable in terms of section 296 of the Penal Code.

3. At the same time and at the same transaction, he caused the death of Wijemuni Kushan Sandaruwan De Silva, and thereby committed the offence of murder punishable in terms of section 296 of the Penal Code.

Sachethana Sandamali mentioned in the 1st count was the legally married wife of the appellant and the deceased persons mentioned in the 2nd and the 3rd count are the two young children of the appellant born out of the marriage with the deceased Sandamali.

It needs to be noted that this is a matter where the Hon. Attorney General has preferred a direct indictment to the High Court under the powers vested in him in terms of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979.

After trial without a jury, the learned High Court Judge of Colombo found the appellant guilty as charged, and he was sentenced to death in relation to all three counts preferred against him. On the basis of being aggrieved by the said conviction and the sentence, the appellant preferred this appeal.

This a case where the prosecution has mainly relied on circumstantial evidence to prove the charges against the appellant in addition to the confessional statement made by the appellant to the learned Magistrate of Mt. Lavinia in terms of section 127 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act.

At the trial, the prosecution has called the following witnesses in order to prove the charges against the appellant.

PW-01 Chanuka Fernando, who was the brother of the deceased Sandamali.

PW-02 Kalyani Silva, who was the mother the appellant.

PW-05 Dhanushka Jayasekara.

PW-06 Anuruddha Gunawardena. PW-07 Susima Warnakulasooriya.

PW-09 G.A. Irangani who was a servant at the house of the deceased.

PW-10 who had an intimate relationship with the appellant.

PW-14 Chandana Kumara Pathirana.

PW-17 Neetha Sriyani.

PW-22 who gave evidence on behalf of Lanka Electricity Company Limited (LECO).

PW-23 Police Inspector Eric Rohana.

PW-25 Chief Inspector of Police Dharmasiri Wijewardena.

PW-31 Chief Inspector of Police Kamal Pushpakumara, PW-34 Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Wasanthi Ariyarathna who conducted the postmortems of the deceased.

PW-35 Senior Assistant Government Analyst Roshan Fernando who produced the Government Analyst Report.

PW-36 the then learned Magistrate of Mt. Lavinia before whom the confessional statement was made by the appellant.

The prosecution has marked productions P-1 to P-11 at the trial. When a defence wa