Wanniarachchige Nandalal Fernando v. Attorney General – CN285/2006-2006

In the case between the Attorney General and Wanniarachchige Nandalal Fernando, the court addressed whether the accused-appellant was denied the statutory right to elect a trial by jury, as mandated by section 195(ee) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979 (as amended). The determination was made that the trial record failed to demonstrate that the accused was offered or informed of the right to trial by jury, constituting a fatal procedural breach. Additional grounds included alleged denial of allocutus, adoption of evidence without re-summoning witnesses, and improper corroboration of evidence. The holding reaffirmed that the statutory right to a jury trial cannot be presumed to have been satisfied by the presumption of regularity and that its breach is not curable as a mer