Mavelage Sanjeewa Rajapaksha vs The Attorney General – CA HCC 0021/2023-2025

This case involves an appeal against a murder conviction and death sentence pronounced by the High Court of Hambantota. The conviction was for the murder of a 12-year-old girl, T.B. Jeewani Samanmalee. The prosecution’s case was founded solely on circumstantial evidence. The appeal was lodged on grounds that the circumstantial evidence was insufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, that a third-party perpetrator was not excluded, and that the prosecution’s narrative was inherently improbable.

Pradeep Hettiarachchi, J. delivered the judgment in this appeal stemming from the High Court of Hambantota’s decision on 31.10.2022. The appellant was convicted of murder under Section 296 of the Penal Code and sentenced to death for the stabbing of a 12-year-old girl, T.B. Jeewani