Kosgoda Durayalage Premachandra v. The Hon. Attorney General – CA – HCC 0289/2014-2022

In the case between The Honourable Attorney General, representing the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Plaintiff) and Kosgoda Durayalage Premachandra (Accused-Appellant), the court addressed whether the conviction for the murder of the accused-appellant’s wife was sustainable based solely on circumstantial evidence. It was held that the prosecution failed to exclude suicide as a reasonable possibility, creating reasonable doubt regarding the guilt of the accused-appellant. The judgment reaffirmed that a conviction relying on circumstantial evidence in criminal proceedings requires the exclusion of any hypothesis consistent with innocence. This decision relied on established Sri Lankan legal principles concerning circumstantial evidence, emphasizing the necessity for evidence to