The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence of 15 years to 10 years of a suspect convicted by the Colombo High Court for involvement with the LTTE.
Attorney Dr. Ranjit Fernando submitted to the Court of Appeal that the two suspects Kanagaraj Prabhakaran and Muthunadarajah Prabhakaran arrested in Nugegoda and convicted of the same charge, had disparity in their respective sentences, as the 1st accused Kanagaraj was sentenced to 15 years RI, while 2nd accused Muthunadarajah was sentenced to 10 years RI. Dr. Ranjit Fernando appealed that the sentence of the 1st accused be reduced to 10 years.
The Court of Appeal, after hearing the defence, ordered that the sentence of the 1st accused imposed by the High Court in 2005, be reduced from 15 years to 10 years with effect from the date of conviction.
Counsel informed Court that seven months after the order of the Court of Appeal, the prison authorities had requested the Colombo High Court to issue a duplicate committal order in respect of the accused appellant, as the original had been destroyed by fire
To the surprise of the prison authorities, a fresh committal had been issued by the High Court, stating that the 2nd accused should have, in fact, been sentenced to 15 years RI, and that there had been a typographical error in the judgment signed by the High Court Judge.
The Court of Appeal Bench comprising Justices W.L.R. Silva and H.N.J. Perera, was of the opinion that, there must be some finality to judgment and decisions, otherwise it would not be possible even for the Appellate Court to function. If the High Court Judge has erred with regard to a typographical error, then there is room for the Attorney General to take necessary steps to get that rectified. Therefore, till it is done, the judgment of the Appeal Court should prevail, and directed the High Court Judge to implement the judgment of the Court of Appeal, and accordingly issue a committal to the prison authorities. |
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