The Anuradhapura High Court has acquitted the accused in a case over the bombing of a government officer’s home during the 1999 presidential election period, citing contradictions in the prosecution’s evidence.
The court found the evidence on identification could not be relied on, the Daily Mirror reported.
The case
The charges concerned an attack on the residence of Ananda Weragoda, a Food and Medicine Inspector in Anuradhapura, during the 1999 presidential election campaign. The attack caused property damage estimated at more than Rs. 3 million.
At the time, Weragoda was also serving as an officer promoting United National Party (UNP) membership in the Anuradhapura District.
The accused included the Mayor of Anuradhapura, a former Chairman of the North Central Provincial Council, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajanganaya Pradeshiya Sabha and two others.
Why the case failed
Identification of the attackers became the decisive issue at trial.
The complainant maintained that he had identified the accused in connection with the incident. But another prosecution witness, described as an eyewitness, gave materially different evidence — telling the court he could not identify those who carried out the attack because they had covered their faces with black cloths.
That split between the prosecution’s own witnesses created what the court treated as a significant contradiction on identification. Having considered the evidence and the charges, the High Court acquitted the accused.
The case ran for more than two and a half decades between the 1999 incident and Friday’s verdict. The Daily Mirror report did not name the individual accused or state whether the prosecution intends to appeal.
