Attorney General v. Gunawardena – sllr 1996 volume 2 page 149

Brief
In The Attorney-General v. Gunawardena, the Supreme Court considered whether a High Court Judge may direct a jury to return a not-guilty verdict under Section 212(2) of the Administration of Justice Law before all material prosecution evidence has been presented. It was determined that the trial judge erred by terminating the trial after hearing only four out of forty-two witnesses, thereby preventing the jury from considering the totality of the circumstantial evidence. The Supreme Court, exercising its revisionary powers under Sections 11, 13, and 354, set aside the proceedings and ordered a retrial, underscoring the principle that all relevant evidence must be duly placed before the jury. The decision reaffirmed the necessity for strict adherence to procedure in jury trials and th