The Colombo High Court trial-at-bar has rejected a request by former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara seeking permission to add two matters to the dock statement he made in the Easter Sunday attacks criminal negligence case.
The three-judge bench of Justices Priyantha Liyanage, Viraj Weerasuriya and Thilakaratne Bandara heard the application on Thursday. Counsel Roshan Dehiwala told the court his client had inadvertently omitted two points when making his dock statement and sought permission to place them before the court.
Presiding Judge Liyanage ruled that an accused person is entitled to make only one dock statement under Sri Lankan criminal procedure. Additional Solicitor General Dileep Peiris, appearing for the Attorney General, argued that granting the application would create an “erroneous precedent” and said there was no legal provision permitting an accused to supplement a dock statement once made.
The court dismissed the application. The case has been fixed for May 22.
Jayasundara is charged with criminal negligence for failing to prevent the April 21, 2019 attacks despite prior intelligence warnings. His trial-at-bar is procedurally distinct from the Fort Magistrate’s Court proceedings against former SIS chief Suresh Salley and the alleged conspiracy network, though both tracks concern the same incident.
The 2019 bombings killed 278 people and injured nearly 500. Seven years on, the question of who orchestrated the coordinated attacks remains the subject of multiple parallel investigations, including new CID disclosures of witness intimidation submitted on the same day.
