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Triple murder case accused’s challenge to confession backfires
View(s):Colombo High Court judge Vikum Kaluarachchi granted permission to mark as evidence the confession made by an accused before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate in a case where he is accused of causing the death of his wife and two children by setting fire to a room while they were asleep in it.
The accused Wijemuni Madura Manaranga de Silva is accused of causing the death of his wife Sandamali Fernando aged 35 year and his two children aged three years and three months.
The judge’s decision to accept the confession came after Counsel for the accused Ranjith Heellage objected to the use of the confession as evidence stating that it was not made voluntarily but was made due to coercion by the Police.
The trial judge held a voir dire inquiry on the admissibility of evidence on whether the confession was made voluntarily and ruled that it was very unlikely for an accused to give a seven page confession if he did not do so voluntarily.
The judge also observed that the accused did not deny that he had made the confession for four months after making it and had come on the advice of a counsel he had retained. He further observed that the witnesses who testified over the recording of the confession had not been cross examined.
The judge then ordered the Attorney General to take action against any persons who had prepared an affidavit accusing the Mount Lavinia Magistrate of improperly obtaining a confession from the accused.
The case was postponed for November 12.