The Court of Appeal has ordered the acquittal of a person who was sentenced to death after a jury trial 14 years ago, for a murder that occurred in 1985 in the Akkaraipattu area.
The defendant was acquitted by the Court after deciding that the jury had given the relevant verdict without understanding the legal issues including the medical evidence presented at the trial.
This order was made by the Appellate Court bench comprising Judges Nishanka Bandula Karunaratne and R. Gurusinghe. The Attorney General had filed a case against S.A.Lateef accusing him of murdering a person called S.Ismail on September 16, 1985 in Akkaraipattu. At the end of a jury trial, Lateef was sentenced to death on June 10, 2009.Later Lateef filed a case in the Court of Appeal requesting to set aside the judgment and acquit him.
Add new comment