Dr. Kithsiri Wijeweera, who is the former Tangalle Hospital JMO presently serving at the Badulla Hospital testifying in the Khuram Sheik murder trial said yesterday it was not the gunshot injury on Khuram’s forehead but the stab injury on his face that had caused instant death.

Dr. Wijeweera’s evidence before Colombo High Court Judge Rohini Walgama was led by Senior State Counsel Thusith Mudalige.

He revealed this at the trial into the killing of Khuram Sheik and the gang rape of his girlfriend at the Nature Resort in Tangalle on December 24, 2011.

The doctor said he performed the autopsy on the corpse of Khuram Sheik on December 25 evening and he found 42 injuries.

He said the injury caused to his forehead was from a rifle probably from a T-56 assault rifle.

The doctor said death was caused by the stab injury to the side of the nose of the victim. He said a vein and an artery were cut stopping the blood supply to the brain.

“This will cause instant death,” the doctor said.

He said some of the other injuries on the victim’s body could be fatal could cause death due to hemorrhage.

Dr. Wijeweera said he was unable to say with certainty when death took place because the corpse had been kept in the deep freezer before the autopsy. 

However, he said death would have occurred within half  an hour of the victim last meals. The case was put off for today. (T. Farook Thajudeen)