Narayana Saamy Rajaratnam v. Hon. Attorney General – CA HC 05/2012-2012

The case between Narayana Saamy Rajaratnam (Appellant) and the Hon. Attorney General (Respondent) addressed the issue of whether the Accused-Appellant’s appeal could be withdrawn with the condition that the sentence be deemed to commence from the date of conviction (15.02.2012). It was held that, upon the Appellant’s application, withdrawal of the appeal was permitted with a direction that the sentence be backdated accordingly. This determination reaffirmed the principle that sentencing may be considered to commence from the date of conviction when the appeal is withdrawn at the Appellant’s request. The decision relied on the procedural discretion of the appellate court to manage withdrawal applications and impacted the computation of custodial terms following conviction.

Anil Gooneratne