Judge returns homicide verdict in Trinco hartal killing

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2003, 01:11 GMT]
The Trincomalee Magistrate and Additional District Judge Mr.S.Thiagendran Thursday returned a verdict of homicide at the conclusion of the inquest held into the deaths of three Tamil civilians who were killed in a grenade attack on October 11 hartal (general shutdown), legal sources said. The Judge ordered police personnel who were on duty at the scene on the day of the incident to appear in an identification parade.

Mr. Thiagendran directed the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to make arrangement to hold the identification parade. The Judge further directed the Registrar to send copies of evidence witnesses with Sinhala translation to the SSP for taking further action, legal sources said.

Three Tamil civilians S.Konalingam, K.Sasikumar and S.Mayooran of Anpuvallipuram and Gandhi Nagar were killed in a grenade attack at Abeyapura on October 11 last year when Trincomalee Tamils observed hartal condemning the Kanchirankuda massacre of seven Tamil civilians by the Special Task Force (STF) in the east.

When two groups clashed at Abeyapura a bomb was thrown on the Tamil crowd from the opposite side where police personnel were standing with the opposing group, legal sources said.

The Judge Mr. Thiagendran said in his order that according to the medical evidence the deceased had died due to excessive hemorrhage following injuries caused by grenade explosion. "Hence I return the verdict of homicide in these deaths," the Judge said.

Citing evidence of several witnesses the Judge Mr. Thiagendran said although several witnesses were unable to identify the person who threw the hand grenade on the day of incident all have stated that the grenade was thrown from the side where police personnel were standing.

Another witness, the grenade was thrown after police officers on duty assembled at the same place by the side of the opposing party. This witness confirmed to the Judge that he can identify the person who threw the grenade.

Judge Thiagendran made the determination to have an identification parade based on the statement of this witness.

The Trincomalee police led the evidence. Attorney-at-Law Mr.K.Sivapalan with Attorneys J,.M.Laheer and P.K.Antony watched the interest of the victims.

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