Katulandage Upul Sisira Kumara vs The Hon. Attorney General – CAI00/2013-2018

In the case between Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo and Katulandage Upul Sisira Kumara (2nd Accused – Appellant), the court addressed the issue of whether a conviction and death sentence for two counts of murder could be sustained on the basis of dock identification made years after the alleged offense without corroboration through an identification parade. It was held that reliance on uncorroborated dock identification, especially in the absence of an identification parade and given the sole eyewitness’s initial inability to identify the accused, rendered the conviction unsafe. The principle reaffirmed is that dock identification, when unsupported by independent evidence and marred by doubts about reliability, is insufficient to sustain a conviction. This dec