Ranaweera Arachchige Merelin Markus vs. Hon Attorney General – CA MC-RV/11/2016-2016

In the case between Ranaweera Arachchige Merelin Markus and the Hon Attorney General, the court addressed the legality and propriety of sentences imposed by the Magistrate’s Court of Kesbewa, focusing on whether consecutive sentences for alternative or mutually exclusive offences were permissible and whether overall sentences exceeded the jurisdictional limits. The court held that sentences for alternative counts cannot be imposed cumulatively and such sentences must run concurrently where required, with the removal of convictions for alternative counts where inappropriate. This decision reaffirmed the principle that sentencing must comply both with jurisdictional limitations and the rules against convicting or punishing a defendant on alternative or mutually exclusive charges. The finding