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

Court of Appeal No: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka CA/HCC/0045/22 COMPLAINANT Vs.

High Court of Gampaha Baddegama Ganithage Ranjith Jayantha Case No: HC/283/2006 ACCUSED AND NOW BETWEEN Baddegama Ganithage Ranjith Jayantha ACCUSED-APPELLANT Vs.

The Attorney General Attorney General’s Department Colombo 12 COMPLAINANT-RESPONDENT Before : Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

: P. Kumararatnam, J.

Counsel : Naushalya Rajapaksha with Dilan Maduwage for the Accused Appellant : Madhawa Tennakoon, DSG for the Respondent Argued on : 31-08-2023 Written Submissions : 13-09-2022 (By the Accused-Appellant)

Decided on : 01-12-2023 Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

The accused-appellant (hereinafter referred to as the appellant) was indicted before the High Court of Gampaha for having caused the death of Dharmakeerthi Abeywickrama alias Chaminda on 23-07-2003 at Kadawatha, and thereby committing the offence of murder, punishable in terms of section 296 of the Penal Code.

After trial without a jury, the appellant was found guilty as charged by the learned High Court Judge of Gampaha of the Judgement dated 07-10-2021, and accordingly, he has been sentenced to death.

Being aggrieved by the said conviction and the sentence, the appellant preferred this appeal.

At the very outset, it needs to be stated that this is a matter where the conviction has been entirely dependent on the dying declarations, the deceased supposed to have made to several witnesses, and other incidental evidence.

The Facts in Brief The 1st witness called by the defence had been the PW-03 listed in the indictment. He was the elder brother of the deceased. According to his evidence, the deceased had been working in a bakery belonging to one Saman Mudalali. He has come to know that his brother suffered burn injuries as a result of an incident happened at the bakery. His brother has been receiving treatment for about two and a half months in the Colombo General Hospital and PW-03 was the person who looked after him throughout his stay in the hospital.

While hospitalized, the deceased has informed the witness that he had disputes with a person called Ranjith. He has told him that while he was sleeping in the bakery, he was awakened when something was poured on him where he saw Ranjith with a matchstick, and he set fire to him. He has informed further that the incident occurred while he was sleeping in front of the bakery furnace on a wooden box.

The mentioned Ranjith was a person unknown to the witness. The deceased has passed away on 08-10-2003 while receiving treatment and the witness has identified his body at the post-mortem.

PW-01 Samoan Prasad was the owner of the bakery, where this incident occurred. He has confirmed that the deceased as well as the appellant were working under him at the time relevant to this incident and both of them were working as labourers at the bakery. While at home on 22-07-2003, around 1.30 – 2.00 a.m., he has been informed by another servant that the deceased servant had been set on fire by the appellant and had run away. After hearing the news he has gone to the bakery, the has been informed that the deceased was taken to the Ragama hospital. When he reached the hospital, he has seen the deceased screaming due to pain, but was in a position to talk. When asked what happened, the deceased has informed him that while he was seated on a wooden bench (බංකුවක), Ranjith poured petrol on the back of his body (පිටට) and set him on fire.

The witness has identified the mentioned Ranjith as the appellant.

Explaining further, the witness has stated that when these words were uttered, the deceased was not admitted to the hospital ward, but was on a stretcher outside of it. The witness has been very specific that when he met him before he was admitted to the hospital ward that night, he spoke to him and informed h