Pardon for man serving sentence for double murder to be considered

A death sentence imposed on a man involved in a double murder and later converted to a life sentence is to be reconsidered after taking into consideration the circumstances leading to the murders and behaviour of the convict.

The possibility of a pardon is to be considered on the 61 year old convict who was a farmer from Thabbowa, Puttalam.

The man had murdered a youth and his father after the farmer’s 15 year old daughter was raped by the youth.

The man’s wife was a mental patient and he left his wife and gone to the field when the rape incident occured.

The incident had been reported to the Police,  but the police had got both parties to settle the matter.

The man had been angered over the police decision and later met the youth and the father and murdered both of them.

He was sentenced to death on May 11, 2011 and the sentence was reaffirmed in the appeal on January 31, 2014.

Later Committee headed by retired Court of Appeal Judge, Sunil Rajapaksa recommended that the death sentence be converted to life imprisonment from January 31, 2019.

The sentence is now being reconsidered looking into the possibility of a pardon in view of the circumstances leading to the murders.