Iddamalgodage Weerasinghe alias Saman vs The Attorney-General – CA NO.60/2010-2013

In the case between Iddamalgodage Weerasinghe alias Saman (Accused-Appellant) and the Attorney-General (Respondent), the court addressed whether the accused-appellant’s conviction for murder should be upheld or reduced to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, particularly where the defence of “sudden fight” was not expressly advanced at trial but potentially supported by the evidence. It was held that the conviction for murder and corresponding sentence of death should be set aside and substituted with a conviction for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, accompanied by a sentence of fifteen years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine. The principle reaffirmed required courts to consider lesser verdicts such as culpable homicide, when evidence allows, independent of express requests