Premasiri v. Officer-In-Charge, Police Station, Matara – sllr 1993 volume 2 page 023

The case between PREMASIRI (Plaintiff) and OFFICER-IN-CHARGE, POLICE STATION, MATARA (Defendant) addressed whether the appellant’s conduct—resulting in a fatal motor accident—constituted criminal negligence under section 298 of the Penal Code. It was held that to prove criminal negligence, the prosecution must establish a very high degree of negligence or recklessness, rather than a mere error of judgment or simple lack of care. The principle reaffirmed was that criminal liability for negligence in fatal accident cases requires a substantially higher threshold than civil negligence. This determination relied on precedents such as Rex v. Bateman and King v. Leighton and drew upon previous local cases to guide interpretation of section 298. The impact of the decision is to stress the necessi