Ponna Hannadhige Daminda Buwaneka Samarasinghe vs Hon. Attorney General – CA 0307/2016-2025

In the matter of Ponna Hannadhige Daminda Buwaneka Samarasinghe vs Hon. Attorney General, the court addressed an appeal against a murder conviction. The court held that the murder conviction was unsustainable due to misdirection to the jury and substituted it with a conviction for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, reaffirming the principle that precise and accurate jury directions are crucial for a just verdict. This decision relied on Section 293 of the Penal Code and Section 334(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, emphasizing that a failure to properly distinguish between murderous intention and knowledge, and between murder and culpable homicide, constitutes a fundamental flaw in the trial process.

Pradeep Hettiarachchi, J. – The judgment detailed the appellant’s convi