Vidana Thuppahige Nilantha Pradeep Kumara vs. The Hon. Attorney General – CA/HCC/0066/2023-2024

In the case between the Hon. Attorney General (Complainant-Respondent) and Vidana Thuppahige Nilantha Pradeep Kumara (Accused-Appellant), the court addressed the issues of conviction and sentencing for statutory rape under Section 364(2) of the Penal Code. It was held that although the Appellant was properly convicted on three counts of statutory rape following a guilty plea supported by DNA evidence, the imposition of consecutive sentences totaling 39 years was excessive given the circumstances. The court reaffirmed that sentencing discretion must consider mitigating factors, such as an early plea, saved judicial time, and the accused’s family status, and determined that imprisonment should run concurrently in this context. The relevant legal reasoning derived from the proportionality pri