Renuka Subasinghe v. Attorney-General – sllr 2007 volume 1 page 224

In RENUKA SUBASINGHE v ATTORNEY-GENERAL, the appellate court considered the reliability of the victim’s evidence in a prosecution for cruelty to children under section 308(A) of the Penal Code. The issues examined included the effect of contradictions in the victim’s account, whether medical and expert testimony undermined her credibility, and the sufficiency of evidence regarding the victim’s age. The holding affirmed that certain discrepancies in testimony, if attributable to factors such as faulty memory rather than fabrication, do not necessarily vitiate a conviction when supported by corroborative medical evidence and judicial observation. It was held that strict expert evidence establishing age is unnecessary when clear circumstantial and testimonial evidence exist. This decision ref