Colombo, Oct. 15 (Daily Mirror) - The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal filed by a Buddhist monk convicted of sexually abusing a novice monk, upholding his conviction and sentences of 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment relating to grave sexual abuse.
The appeal was dismissed by a bench comprising Justices Amal Ranaraja and Dr. Sumudu Premachandra, who held that the trial judge was entitled to rely on the evidence of the child victim after finding his testimony credible and trustworthy.
The accused Thera had been convicted by the Polonnaruwa High Court of two counts of grave sexual abuse under Section 365B(2)(b) of the Penal Code.
The charges related to incidents alleged to have occurred between November 23, 2014 and January 23, 2015, when the victim was seven years old and residing at the same temple as the accused, a senior monk.
Following the trial, the High Court imposed 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.50,000 on each count, with six months’ simple imprisonment in default of each fine. The substantive prison terms were ordered to run concurrently. The accused was also ordered to pay Rs.100,000 in compensation to the victim. The accused subsequently filed an appeal before Court of Appeal challenging the conviction and sentence.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal held that the victim had given a detailed and consistent account of the incidents and that the contradiction identified during cross-examination did not relate to the central allegations of sexual abuse.
Additional Solicitor General Shanil Kularatne appeared for the Attorney General.