Attorney General v. Sampath – sllr 1997 volume 3 page 390

In Attorney General v. Sampath, the court addressed the issues of whether a period of remand should be counted as part of the sentence served by an accused, and whether the imposition of a fine is mandatory under section 2(1)(B) of the Offensive Weapons Act. It was held that the trial judge was not empowered to credit the accused’s remand period towards the sentence, and that the imposition of a fine under the statute is mandatory. The principle reaffirmed in this decision is that sentencing must adhere strictly to statutory requirements, disallowing retroactive credit of remand periods unless specifically authorized by law. This ruling emphasized adherence to sections 287 and 300 of the Criminal Procedure Act and section 2(1)(B) of the Offensive Weapons Act, signifying that statutory mand