The Colombo High Court on Tuesday acquitted and discharged the former Officer-in-Charge of Crimes at the Maho Police Station, who had stood trial on allegations that he solicited a sexual bribe from a woman.
Delivering judgment, High Court Judge Mohamed Mihal held that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges against Sub Inspector of Police Asithgomi Alahakoon beyond reasonable doubt, Daily Mirror reported.
The case was instituted by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and comprised two charges alleging that the accused had solicited sexual gratification from a woman.
What the court found
The judgment turned on the credibility of the principal witness and the internal consistency of the prosecution case. The court found that the complainant’s evidence could not be safely relied upon, and that there was no sufficient evidence establishing that the accused had solicited a sexual bribe. Inconsistencies in the evidence led by the prosecution raised further doubts about the allegation.
With those evidentiary gaps unbridged, the court held the charges had not been proved to the required standard and discharged the accused.
The defence case
Central to the defence was the contention that the officer and the complainant had been in a romantic relationship, and that the allegations surfaced only after that relationship broke down. Counsel put it to the court as “a relationship that turned sour”, and repeatedly put to prosecution witnesses that the complaint was motivated by resentment arising from the failed relationship, and that the circumstances between the two were inconsistent with the prosecution’s account of a demand for sexual gratification.
Senior Counsel Darshana Kuruppu appeared for the accused with Pramuditha Senevirathne.
Not reported: whether CIABOC intends to appeal the acquittal; when the alleged offences took place or when the indictment was filed; and whether the officer, described as the former OIC of Crimes at Maho, faces any separate departmental proceedings. No other verified newsroom had filed on the judgment at the time of writing.
