Hearings in the Obeysekera Walauwa case will continue in the Court of Appeal tomorrow.
When the case was taken up in court last week, the State Counsel appearing for the Attorney General had moved to withdraw an appeal filed by the AG’s Department, but Desmond Fernando, counsel for Stanley Obeysekera, objected, saying the AG had not given any reasons for wanting the appeal to be withdrawn.
The AG’s Department had appealed against the verdict of the High Court which had acquitted the respondents in the Obeysekera Walauwa case. The AG’s Department had asked the court to order a re-trial.
In the appeal, the Attorney General said the respondents had been indicted in the High Court of Colombo, and that at the commencement of the trial there were three respondents: Bandula Wijesinghe, Sarath Wijewardene and Sumedha Perera.
The first accused, Bandula Wijesinghe, was charged with getting a third party to forge the signature of Frederick W. Obeysekera, while the second and third respondents were charged with abetting the first respondent. The first accused died during the trial and the charges were accordingly amended.
The High Court judge acquitted Sarath Wijewardene and Sumedha Perera, saying the prosecution had failed to prove that the signatures on legal documents were not those of the late Fredrick Obeysekera.
The AG’s appeal was lodged on November 3, but last week the AG’s Department sought to withdraw the appeal. |
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