Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentences in Vithiya Rape and Murder Case

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Supreme Court today (6) confirmed the death sentences imposed on the accused in the abduction, gang rape and murder of schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vithiya in Jaffna.

The ruling was delivered after the Supreme Court rejected appeals filed by four defendants, including Swiss Kumar, who had sought acquittal from the death sentences imposed by a three-judge High Court bench.

The judgment was handed down by a five-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, which upheld the capital punishment ordered by the Jaffna permanent three-judge High Court.

At the same time, the Supreme Court ordered that the sentences imposed on two of the accused be set aside.

The case relates to the incident on or around May 13, 2015, in the Punkudutheevu area of Jaffna, where 18-year-old schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vithiya was abducted while returning home from school, gang raped, and murdered.

Following investigations, the Attorney General filed indictments against Swiss Kumar and several others before a permanent three-judge High Court bench in Jaffna. In 2017, the High Court found seven defendants guilty and sentenced them to death.

The convicted defendants subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court seeking acquittal. During the period in which the appeals were being heard, one of the defendants died.