Judge refutes Police spokesman

SAYS views ‘irresponsible’:

Jaffna High Court Judge, M. Ilancheliyan yesterday refuted claims made by the Police Media spokesperson, SP Ruwan Gunasekara that the shooting incident in Jaffna was not aimed at him but was a mere coincidence.

Speaking to the media at the funeral of slain SI Sarath Hemachandra yesterday, the judge stressed that the Police media spokesperson’s views on the case were ‘irresponsible’ and need not have been made before a full investigation was concluded into the incident.The funeral of the fallen Policeman Sarath Premachandra took place in his hometown Kumarakattuwa, Chilaw with full Police honours.

“As the prime witness, I can say that this was targetted at me and the two police officers fought to protect my life; one officer sacrificed his life and another is injured”, the High Court Judge said.

Judge Ilancheliyan further attributed SP Gunasekara’s statements as an attempt to mislead the investigation and interfere with a court case, “No one can interfere with this court case. A B Report has been submitted to the Jaffna Magistrate’s Courts, so anyone trying to divert the case is in contempt of court”, he added.

On Saturday (22), an altercation between the suspects and the police officers attached to the security of the judge who were trying to settle it, resulted in a shooting where one of the officers was injured and the other fatally wounded. The police have thus far managed to arrest three suspects connected to the shooting, one of them; 39 year old Selvarasa Jayandan is the main suspect in the case. The latter surrendered him to the Police on Tuesday (25).

With the Police stating that the shooting was not pre-planned, the judge was of the opinion that the Police were aiding the case of the Defence.

“You cannot reveal the statement made by the accused during an investigation and in a court of law confessions are inadmissible” he said.

“I had gone in my official car on an official visit with uniformed escorts. If they wanted to kill a Policeman in particular he could have targeted one of the many hanging around in Jaffna, why did the suspect interfere with my trip?” the Judge questioned.

The spokesperson behaved like a judge and delivered the judgment, the Judge further stated.

According to sources, the suspect had joined the LTTE in 1994 at the age of 16. He is also suspected of being connected to a murder which had taken place in Jaffna during 2012. Police say the latest incident had occurred while is was out on bail for the previous murder case.