R. M. S. Priyantha Rathnayake vs The Hon. Attorney General – CA 41/2012-2014

In R. M. S. Priyantha Rathnayake v. The Hon. Attorney General, the court addressed whether a conviction for culpable homicide under Section 297 was reached through a fair and legally sound trial. The appellate proceedings determined that the trial was prejudiced by the improper use of police statements to corroborate prosecution evidence and by the High Court Judge’s order to remand a key witness for deviating from their police statement, which affected the testimony of other witnesses. These procedural irregularities led to a finding that the Accused-Appellant did not receive a fair trial. The conviction and sentence were set aside, with an order for a retrial, reaffirming the principle that police statements cannot be used for corroboration and emphasizing that witness testimony must be