Premasiri and Another vs Republic of Sri Lanka – sllr 2012 volume 1 page 043

In Premasiri and Another v. Republic of Sri Lanka, the court considered whether contradictions and omissions in the testimony of a sole eyewitness undermined the credibility of the prosecution’s case, and whether the trial judge erred in rejecting the alibi defence of the 1st accused. The convictions arose from murder charges, based primarily on the witness’s identification and associated statements. It was held that the discrepancies in the witness’s accounts did not materially affect credibility, and that the alibi raised by the 1st accused was not satisfactorily established. The principles reaffirmed include the non-fatal nature of immaterial contradictions and the burden for an accused to raise a genuine doubt through an alibi. Reliance was placed on established case law regarding the