The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday (6) confirmed the death sentences imposed by the High Court (HC) Trial-at-Bar on four accused, including on the convict known by the alias ‘Swiss Kumar’, in the abduction, gang rape and murder of an 18-year-old schoolgirl in the Jaffna District in 2015. 

The verdict was delivered by a five-Judge bench headed by Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena after dismissing the appeals filed by the accused seeking their acquittal. However, the Court also ordered the acquittal of two other accused in the case. At the time that the order was delivered, three of the accused who had been sentenced to death were produced before the SC, with their appearance facilitated through Zoom technology.

The Attorney General had filed indictments against ‘Swiss Kumar’ and a group of defendants before a three-Judge bench of the Jaffna HC on the charge of the abduction, gang rape and murder of the said schoolgirl while she was returning from school in the Punkuduthivu area on 13 May 2015. In 2017, the Trial-at-Bar of the Jaffna HC sentenced seven accused to death after finding them guilty in the case.

The appeals before the SC were filed seeking acquittal and release from that sentence. 

However, one of the accused had passed away during the period of the hearing of the appeals.