Liyana Arachchige Don Gunasena v. The Attorney General – CA HCC/0182/20-2022

In the case between the appellant (an accused in a criminal case of murder and grievous injury) and the Attorney General, the court addressed the reliability of the evidence underlying the appellant’s conviction. The issues analyzed included the credibility of the eyewitness identification, the sufficiency of the alibi, and the application of the Turnbull guidelines to the identification evidence presented at trial. It was determined that the conviction, primarily grounded on the testimony of PW-02, was unsafe due to inadequacies in the identification procedure and the failure to give proper warning regarding the risks associated with such evidence. The appeal was allowed, and the appellant was acquitted, reaffirming the principle that a conviction cannot stand where the identification evi