After eight years behind bars, Court frees man sentenced to death
Posted on November 6th, 2025
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Colombo, Nov. 6 (Daily Mirror) – A man who had spent eight years in prison under a death sentence for drug trafficking was acquitted by the Court of Appeal, which found that the raid and recovery of productions in the case had not met the test of probability.
The Court of Appeal two-judge bench comprising Justice P. Kumararatnam and Justice Pradeep Hettiarachchi set aside the conviction and death sentence imposed by the Colombo High Court on March 20, 2017, citing that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
In its judgement, the Court further observed that the accused had been denied the right to a fair trial, as the High Court Judge had not permitted him to call a witness in his defence. The Court held that this amounted to a violation of the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial.
The accused, Osman Perera, had been indicted by the Attorney General before the Colombo High Court under Sections 54(A)(d) and 54(A)(b) of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, as amended by Act No. 13 of 1984, for possession and trafficking of 4.4 grams of heroin (diacetylmorphine) on February 22, 2002.
Following the trial, the High Court found him guilty on both counts and imposed the death sentence. The accused subsequently filed an appeal, contending that the trial judge had failed to properly evaluate the evidence and that the production chain had not been established beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Kumararatnam, delivering the judgement, observed that the prosecution’s version of the raid and the recovery of the drugs failed to meet the test of probability. If the learned Trial Judge had examined the evidence presented from the correct perspective, he would have been inclined to accept the testimony provided by the accused,” the Court noted.
The Court also observed the inconsistencies regarding the weight of the production. While the first police witness testified that 7 grams of heroin (excluding the cellophane cover) were sent for analysis, the Government Analyst reported receiving 7.44 grams, indicating a 0.44-gram discrepancy.
The Court of Appeal accordingly ordered that the conviction and sentence be quashed and directed that the accused be acquitted forthwith.