Police to appael on Kotakethana case

29 May 2015 03:11 pm

In an apparent bid to defuse potential future public unrest, in the wake of Thursday's commotion in Kahawatte following the Colombo High Court verdict on the Kotakethana double murder suspects, police said it would file an appeal in the coming days.

Responding to a series of questions raised by journalists at today news briefing, Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the police would discuss with the Attorney General to look at the possibility of making an appeal against the verdict.

The journalists said the police’s inability to facilitate the case with sufficient and strong evidence had led to the judiciary to acquit the three suspects and they could not prove their alleged connection to the case beyond reasonable doubt.

They said an entire village was distressed by the series of events that took place earlier and the people continue to live in fear and Thursday's unrest was triggered by this agitation.

They questioned the rationale in using water cannon and riot squads to disperse these people who cried out of genuine fear.

The spokesman responded saying the investigators had done their best to support this case but since the scientific evidence did not tally, the judiciary had to acquit the suspects after a fair trial. (Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana and Sanath Desmond)