Swiss embassy staffer to face NIMH medical board today

By Nimanthi Ranasinghe 

Switzerland Embassy Visa Officer Garnier Banister Francis – who was arrested and remanded last Monday on the charges of providing fabricated statements to the CID over an alleged abduction – will be produced before specialist psychologists of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at 9:00 a.m. today. 

Prison officers are scheduled to produce Garnier Banister Francis before the medical board comprising specialist doctors Pushpa de Silva, Kapila Ranasinghe and Lushan Hettiarachchi, in compliance with the court order directed last Monday on the request of the CID. 

The board had been appointed on the instructions of specialist doctor Ajith Thennakoon, Chief Judicial Medical Officer of Colombo. 

When Garnier Banister Francis was produced before the medical board earlier, she was arrested on the instructions of the Attorney General (AG) for providing false evidence. 
Last Monday, the CID reported facts to court through a B-report and statements were recorded from 30 individuals including Garnier’s husband Pradeep Elmo Francis and Dushanthi Selvaraj, a teacher residing at Palmyra Apartments in Bambalapitiya. 

The case is fixed for December 30.