Deekiri Mudiyanselage Maduran Alwis v. The Hon. Attorney General – CA 93/2015-2015

In Attorney General v. Deekiri Mudiyanselage Duminda Maduran Alwis, the court addressed whether the conviction for murder under Section 296 of the Penal Code, based on circumstantial evidence, was justified. It was determined that the conviction and death sentence for the murder of a 2½-year-old child were properly established on the basis of an unbroken chain of circumstantial evidence, including the “last seen” principle, the accused leading authorities to the body, and the absence of any credible exculpatory evidence. Reliance was placed on established legal principles regarding the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The holding reaffirmed the standard that where the totality of circumstances points solely to the guilt of the accused, and admi