The Colombo High Court has sentenced two former police officers and a civilian to rigorous imprisonment over a cash robbery committed after an altercation at a Dehiwala restaurant in 2008.
High Court Judge Rashmi Singappuli delivered the verdict following a lengthy trial, Ada Derana reported.
The civilian was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment. The two former police officers, both also found guilty, were each sentenced to three years.
The Attorney General had filed indictments against the three before the Colombo High Court on charges including robbery, in connection with the incident that followed the restaurant altercation.
The case took roughly 18 years to reach judgment, a span that is not unusual in Sri Lanka’s higher courts. Delay in the disposal of criminal cases has become a live political issue in recent weeks, with the government citing the backlog as justification for a proposed constitutional amendment to extend the retirement age of judges — a plan the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has unanimously opposed.
Ada Derana did not name the three convicted men, and did not report whether any of them intend to appeal.
Additional detail
Hiru News, reporting the same judgment, said the incident took place on August 29, 2008 and described the two officers as police sergeants convicted on three charges. According to that account, the charges related to behaving riotously after visiting a restaurant in Dehiwala, assaulting an employee, and causing Rs. 19,500 worth of damage to the premises.
Hiru put the sergeants’ combined terms at nine years, adding that Judge Singappuli ordered the sentences to run concurrently over a period of three years — consistent with the three-year term Ada Derana reported for each officer. Hiru’s account did not mention the civilian or the five-year sentence.
