5 August 2021 03:04 pm
The Court of Appeal has affirmed the death sentence imposed by Nuwara Eliya High Court on an accused for committing the murder of a mother of two children in Dikoya, Nuwara Eliya in 2009.
The deceased one Sellamani was living with the accused Sinnappan Krishnakumar in an illicit relationship and they had two children by the union. The accused was a married man whose wife was employed overseas. According to the evidence of the father of the deceased, his daughter and the accused lived in matrimony in a house owned by him, which was situated near his house in the tea estate where they lived. According to him, there were constant quarrels between them due to the drunkenness of the accused. It was his evidence that on the day of the incident where the deceased suffered burn injuries, on the 19th of August 2009, his daughter came to his house in a state of shock at around 11.00 pm with the youngest child of about one year old and informed that the accused came home drunk and assaulted her. About fifteen minutes later, the accused Krishnakumar came and wanted him to open the door. Upon his refusal, the accused forcibly opened the door by breaking the nearby window and after assaulting the deceased, dragged her to the house where they lived, leaving the child with him.
The evidence establishes that the accused was in the habit of assaulting and ill-treating the deceased after consuming liquor. On the day in question, she has come to her father’s house seeking shelter after being assaulted by the accused. The accused who came after her, has forced open the door of the house and had dragged the deceased away and had set fire on her.
The deceased had informed her father that Krishnakumar the accused, poured Kerosine oil on her and set fire to her. In his evidence, the father of the deceased told that he could not take her daughter to the hospital as he was a sick person and although he asked the accused to take her to the hospital, he took her back to their house and it was only in she was taken to the hospital by the accused where she died seven days later.
Court of Appeal two-judge-bench comprising Justice Priyantha Fernando and Justice Sampath Abeykoon decided to dismiss the appeal filed by the accused citing there is merit in the grounds of the appeal.
The Court of Appeal finds no reasons to interfere with the conviction and the sentence imposed on the accused by High Court. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)