Hitihamy Mudiyanselage Samarasinghe alias Samare vs The Attorney-General – CA NO. 115/2011-2013

In the case between Hitihamy Mudiyanselage Samarasinghe alias Samare (Accused-Appellant) and the Attorney-General (Respondent), the court addressed the issue of whether the conviction and death sentence for the murder of Siriwedi Mudiyanselage Ranasinghe Bandara were legally justified, specifically focusing on the evaluation of defence evidence and the trial judge’s application of reasonable doubt standards. It was held that the trial judge erred by failing to properly consider the defence presented by the accused and his wife, particularly whether their testimony created reasonable doubt as to the accused’s guilt. The decision reaffirmed the principle that if the defence evidence, whether believed outright or sufficient to generate a reasonable doubt, calls for an acquittal. This principl