Court Turns Down Pujith Jayasundara’s Request

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Colombo High Court trial-at-bar rejected a request made by former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara seeking permission to add new information to the statement he made from the dock in the Easter Sunday terror attacks case.

The request was considered before the three-judge bench comprising Justices Priyantha Liyanage, Viraj Weerasuriya, and Thilakaratne Bandara.

The case has been filed against the former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara under several charges, including criminal negligence for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday terror attacks despite having received prior intelligence warnings of an imminent attack.

Appearing on behalf of Pujith Jayasundara, Attorney-at-Law Roshan Dehiwala informed court that his client had inadvertently omitted two matters when making his dock statement and sought permission to place those matters before court.

Presiding Judge Priyantha Liyanage stated that an accused person is entitled to make only one statement from the dock.

Additional Solicitor General Dileep Peiris, appearing for the Attorney General, submitted that granting such a request could create an erroneous precedent.

He further stressed that there is no legal provision permitting an accused to add to a dock statement once it has been made.

After considering the submissions, the court rejected the application.

The case was fixed to be taken up again on May 22.