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A 14-year-old girl suffered a severe eye injury and underwent three surgeries after she was struck by a paper pellet aimed at her by some students in a passing school van.
The little girl had to undergo three surgeries to regain her sight. She suffered a bad eye injury which almost turned her blind and lay in the hospital bed for nearly three months. The incident took place when two school vans taking children home stopped adjacent to each other at the traffic lights at Armour Street in Colombo.
The victim's mother said a boy had thrown a paper pellet at the van carrying the girls which struck her daughter's right eye. "Her eye was red and she complained of pain. On the following day, she said she couldn't read as the letters appeared blurred. On the following day she was totally blind," she said.
The girl underwent her first operation on October 27 last year and she had to undergo another operation on November 16. The crucial third operation took place last Sunday. She said the doctors could not guarantee that her daughter would regain her sight.
She has appealed to school authorities to warn students on the dangers of playing such pranks emphasizing the need for a responsible person to travel in school vans. She said traffic police should also be on the alert to prevent such incidents taking place on the road.
Another mother complained that a boy travelling in the same van had poured warm water down her daughter's neck while she was nodding.
The Kandy Municipal Council on the initiation of the provincial health authorities and the dengue action committee will conduct a mass campaign on January 24 and 27 to clean up the city and to destroy mosquito breeding places.
An official of the Central Provincial Council said the first phase of the campaign would be restricted to cleaning the premises in private and government establishments, shops and houses within the Kandy city limits. He said the employees of private institutions would clean up their own premises.The second phase of the programme would target residential areas and the public would be urged to clean their own premises on January 27. Provincial Director of Education said he had instructed teachers and students to join the campaign by cleaning the school premises on the same day.
A Kandy Municipal Council official said vehicles would be used to collect garbage on both days and public health officials would conduct educational programmes.
Central Province Health Director Ananda Gunasekera said the Traders Association had agreed to nominate one person from each shop to take part in the campaign. The Police Training School had also offered to send some of their trainees while the Bogambara Prison had also agreed to release 100 prisoners for the campaign, sources said.
Of the 19 MOH areas, Kundasale and the Kandy Municipal Council area have been identified as the worst affected by the dengue outbreak. The causes identified by health officials are the irregular water supply in Kundasale and the improper garbage disposal system by the Kandy Municipality. Dr. Gunasekera said 38 cases had been reported up to Thursday.The disease pattern occurred from May to July and reached its peak around November and December, he said.
He said except for Panvila, Hasalaka, Ududumbara, Kurunduwatta and Nawalapitiya all the other MOH areas had reported over 50 cases annually.
Dr. Gunasekera said lack of cooperation from local authorities and financial resources to address the public are contributory factors for the present situation. He also said lack of cooperation from the public, especially in the Kundasale area where there were water tanks of different sizes had resulted in aggravating the problem.
"People refuse to clean their tanks regularly due to the short supply of water in the area. Some of them refuse to rear fish in water tanks as it would give a bad odour," Dr. Gunasekera said. He said 'Bothal' trees were another problem as they were breeding ground for mosquitoes.
By Laila Nasry
The case against two Air Force officers who threatened, harassed and intimidated The Sunday Times Consultant Editor Mr. Iqbal Athas and his family, came to a close in the Colombo High Court last Thursday, with Judge Sarath Ambepitiya reserving the order for February 1.
Prior to this, the Judge raised a query as to whether the accused had furnished bail. The counsels for the defence replied in the affirmative, adding that the accused were still officers of the Air Force but currently on suspension.
Two Air force officers Squadron Leader H. M. Rukman Herath the bodyguard of a former Air Force Commander and Squadron Leader D. S. P. Kannangara the officer in charge of the Special Air Borne Force had been indicted in the Colombo High Court for committing criminal trespass, intimidation and unlawful entry with weapons into Mr. Athas's home on February 12,1998.
Counsel for the second accused Anil Silva in his closing submissions said the prosecution had failed to establish the identity of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
He said when taking into consideration the events of February 12, the identification parade and the evidence given by the witnesses, there remained serious doubts pertaining to the entire inquiry, from the initial investigation to the identification parade, as it was not conducted with fairness.
He said Mr. Athas' job was such that it attracted lots of opposition from different quarters. Thus there was a possibility that the intruders were not a part of the Air Force.
Mr. Silva reiterated that both the police and the CID had been vigilant about Mr. Athas's movements since 1997. He said in the evidence of both Mr. and Ms. Athas it was stated that a trishaw registered under the the IGP's name and police motorcylces had been spotted in the vicinity of their house. Mr. Athas had brought these facts to the notice of the authorities.
Referring to a statement made by the intruders that night that they were from the CID Mr. Silva drew two suppositions. One was that the intruders had been from the CID and the other was that they falsely claimed to be from the CID.
Exploring both possibilities Mr. Silva came to the conclusion that it could have been the CID, for apart from claiming to be so they had produced red identity cards similar to those used by the CID. Contrary to the blue identity cards as used by the Air Force which should have been produced had they been from the Air Force.
Mr. Silva also stressed the fact that this possibility of the intruders being from the CID was not explored. On the contrary the investigation was thereafter handed over to the CID itself.
Drawing attention to the events of February 12, Mr. Silva recalled the intruders asking 'Ko badu' (in reference to women), adding that such a statement had been made on two prior occasions.
He said there was a possibility that the CID was trying to vilify Mr. Athas with inference to there being a brothel in his premises.
Also Mr. Athas's statement made to the Mirihana police had no indication of the intruders possessing weapons, an indication that their intention was to malign Mr. Athas on the pretext of trying to obtain women.
Taking into consideration Mr. Athas's statement to the CID that the intruders possessed weapons, one having pointed his pistol to Mr. Athas's head, it could be that the CID had tried to scare Mr. Athas and as a result of the ensuing investigation tried to falsely put the blame on the two accused.
Mr. Silva also said the possibility that the intruders' presence could have been a result of rivalry and opposition attracted by Mr. Athas within his profession, the fact that there was an Inter Press van in the vicinity subsequent to the incident.
Moving on to the inquiry conducted by the CID, Mr. Silva said obtaining the service identity cards of the two accused raised a considerable question as to whether it was used to help Mr. and Mrs. Athas identify them at the identification parade.
The counsel questioned the service identity cards of the two accused being held for 45 minutes at the CID, whilst their statements were being recorded. He added that the photographs in the identity cards could have been copied in the process. Further he said both the first and second accused had made complaints in this regard.
Mr. Silva said though there were unprecedented discrepancies pertaining to the identification parade the counsel present at the time were unable to record their protest.
At this point the judge reminded the counsel that the counsel representing the accused at the identification parade had been allowed to record their objections.
Mr. Silva ventured to establish that Mr. Athas had prior knowledge of the identification parade being held at Gangodawila.
In support of his argument Mr. Silva said Subramanium, the domestic aide of Mr. Athas had been asked not to go to work on that day by Ms Athas and there were a number of journalists from different media organisations present at the Gangodawila Magistrates Court on that date.
Wrong identification of the accused was another fact which Mr. Silva raised. Stating that Mr. Athas's forgetfulness pertaining to the statement made to the Mirihana police could prompt two conclusions. Either Mr. Athas was lying to court or he was in a such a state of shock on the day of the incident that he could not recall the details.
Mr. Silva said the second conclusion was more probable than the first, as it could be inferred that Mr. Athas was not in a position to make a clear identification of the intruders and thus erred at the identification parade.
He said on the evidence of the witnesses, the presence of a 200 watt bulb in the room which the intruders had broken into did not enable them to have a clear look at the intruders so as to describe them originally to the Mirihana police and thereafter to the CID.
Mr. Silva said the probability of the mistaken identity was great. Further the suspicion placed on the two accused were not established absolutely. Daya Perera PC with T. G. Gunesekera watched the interests of Iqbal and Anoma Athas. Senior State Counsel P. P. Surasena and Amendra Seneviratne appeared for the prosecution. Srinath Perera PC with Christopher de Alwis appeared for the 1st accused while Anil Silva represented the 2nd accused.
By Dilrukshi Handunnetti
The main Jaffna-Kandy highway — scene of ferocious battles between the security forces and the LTTE in the past few years — is likely to be reopened soon for the free movement of people and goods.
Interior Minister John Amaratunga told The Sunday Times the government was moving on this matter while LTTE political wing leader S. P. Thamil Selvam said they would readily provide full support for the reopening of this highway known as A-9.
According to reports, the highway had been badly damaged during the war and sections of it are heavily mined.
The Interior Minister also said travel restrictions and police registration procedures were also being taken up for review and possible relaxation.
"We don't want to further inconvenience the people, but before rules are relaxed, certain precautionary measures are required. National intelligence units should remain alert," the minister said when asked about security risk involved in the proposed moves.
The Customs Department probe on the alleged multi-million rupee import fraud of the Stassen Group of companies which has been proceeding at an unprecedented snail pace over a period close to four years is still to conclude their inquiry.
This was established when the case came up before the Court of Appeal recently with the Customs Department requesting for further time to conclude the probe which began subsequent to a Customs raid conducted in September 1997 on Stassen House, a conglomerate headed by Harry Stassen Jayawardene.
During the raid the Customs seized more than 40 files allegedly containing incriminating evidence on the alleged under-invoicing of food stuff including cooking chocolate, sausages and cheese, imported by the Stassen group of companies.
In July 1998 the Stassen Group filed a writ application and obtained a stay order on July 17, 1998 bringing the Customs probe to a halt. The case which was initiated by Harry Jayawardene, V. P.Vittachi, C. R. Jansz, K. Ramanathan, J. V. M. Dabrera and Raja Mendis has been postponed several times both on technical and personal grounds.
However, the stay order was varied from time to time enabling the Customs Department to lead evidence of the witnesses involved in the raid with a number of other witnesses' evidence still to be led.
Last April, the terms in the stay order were further varied enabling the prosecution to lead the evidence of the Assistant Superintendent of Customs R. M. R. D. Ratnayake, Assistant Director of Customs J. H. Kodikara and S. P. Perera the Assistant Preventive Officer.
It was also ordered that the prosecution would not be entitled to lead fresh evidence obtained after the date of commencement, at the inquiry that was being held before the inquiring officer and Customs director P. D. K. Fernando.
In August 2001, it was submitted by Deputy Solicitor General Sripavan that the probe had commenced. As a result he said he could not proceed with the argument until the inquiry was concluded.
Thereafter when the case came up on November 26, the inquiry was still proceeding. However, the case was re-fixed for argument on January 10. On that date the matter was made to stand out of the list as the inquiry was still proceeding.
The case was put off for February 26.
By S. S. Selvanayagam
The Legal Aid Foundation of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has launched a programme of legal aid for internally displaced persons as its latest activity.
Foundation chairman S. S. Wijeratne told the Sunday Times under the programme internally displaced persons would be provided with free legal aid by panels of lawyers of the Foundation on questions arising out of displacement.
He said the programme would include general legal assistance to obtain security passes, identification documents and general legal advice.
By Hiran Jayasinghe
The Livestock Developmet Instructors Union in a letter to Wayamba Governor Siripala Arawwala has asked him to take notice of acts of injustice perpetrated by the provincial director on the union.
Though such acts of injustice had been brought to the notice of the authorities earlier no action had been taken, the letter said. It said the union had talks with the provincial director on three occasions without success.
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