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Jayamaha was released from prison on November 8, 2019:
A week after his release, he left for Singapore:
The presidential pardon granted by then President Maithripala Sirisena in 2019 to Shamantha Jude Anthony Jayamaha, the convict of the famous 2005 ‘Royal Park Murders’, was declared invalid by the Supreme Court yesterday.
The court set aside the pardon and delivered its judgment on a fundamental rights petition filed in the form of a public interest litigation by the Women and Media Alliance, challenging the former president’s decision to pardon the convict. The court ruled that the former president had violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners and the public and ordered him to pay Rs 1 million as compensation to Roger Johnson, the father of late Yvonne Johnson, and Caroline Johnson Bradley, the sister of the petitioning organization, and to cover their costs in connection with the litigation within a month of the judgment.
While declaring the compensation, Justice S. Thurairaja said he took into account the pain, suffering and mental distress endured by the deceased’s father and sister over the years, caused by the felony itself and the illegal and arbitrary administrative actions that deprived them of their right to justice, which no amount of financial compensation could make up for, though it was only symbolic.
Don Shramantha Jude Anthony Jayamaha was charged in the Colombo High Court with the murder of Yvonne Johnson, then 19. Her body was found in a pool of blood on the 19th floor staircase of the Royal Park Apartments, where Johnson and her family were staying, on July 1, 2005.
On July 28, 2006, the High Court found him guilty of manslaughter (not amounting to murder) and sentenced him to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. However, after considering the appeal filed by the convict, the Court of Appeal on July 11, 2012 overturned the High Court’s verdict, convicted him of murder and sentenced him to death.
Subsequently, in May 2016, his death sentences and those of 69 other death row inmates were commuted to life imprisonment by the President, which the petition states was the first pardon granted to him.
However, in early November 2019, the then Executive President Maithripala Sirisena granted him a presidential pardon under the powers conferred by Article 34 of the Constitution, leading to total disbelief among the public.
Following the second pardon, Don Shramantha Jude Anthony Jayamaha was released from prison on 8 November 2019 and left for Singapore a week after his release on 15 November, receiving his passport on 14 November.
In his judgment, Justice Thurairaja said the apex court held that the former president had not fulfilled any of the requirements under Article 34 of the Constitution while granting the pardon, thereby causing total disbelief among the public.
He failed to follow constitutional procedures at all, and for that reason alone he believed that the presidential pardon was beyond the Constitution.
He also said: “This court does not see how the contested pardon is in the public interest, and the former President has made no attempt to explain it.
“I therefore consider that the controversial pardon was an exercise of power for an improper purpose. The President’s failure to explain the reasons for the decision and his actions in violation of the legitimate expectations of victims as provided for in Section 3(q) of the Crime Victims and Witnesses Assistance and Protection Act No. 4 of 2015 further add to the fatal mistakes made in the pardon.”
He further stated that the petitioners have successfully proved that the former President deliberately acted in total violation of the rule of law and in direct violation of the Constitution.
The court declared the two pardons granted to the convicts void ab initio and of no legal effect and therefore ordered that Don Shramanta Jude Anthony Jayamaha be considered a death row inmate.
The Attorney General and all relevant authorities were also directed to take all steps to extradite him pursuant to the necessary order of the Colombo High Court.
In her portion of the judgment, Justice Yasantha Kodagoda ordered that Rs 1 million be paid to the petitioner and that the same be used as trust property in the best interest of women crime victims.
The Attorney General is ordered to submit to the President, the Minister of Justice, the Secretary to the President and the Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, within one month of the date of the judgment, a legal advisory opinion containing the principles applicable to the pardon of prisoners set forth in this judgment and the procedure to be followed in processing requests for pardon and in reaching decisions thereon.
The Attorney General was also ordered to initiate a process to locate the pardoned convicts, bring them back to Sri Lanka, arrest them and send them back to prison to serve their sentences.
Judge Janak de Silva held that the simultaneous pardons granted to the convicts violated Articles 12(1) and 34(1) of the Constitution and were therefore void and without legal effect.
The Women and Media Alliance filed the fundamental rights petition on November 13, 2019, just two days before the pardoned murder convicts were to leave the country. The petitioners named former President Maithripala Sirisena, the Inspector General of Prisons, the Attorney General, the Inspector General of Police, the Inspector General of Immigration, the Attorney General and BASL as defendants.
The petition was heard by a bench of Justices S.Thurairaja, PC, Yasantha Kodagoda, PC and Janak De Silva.
Sanjeeva Jayawardena and Rukshan Senadheera appeared for the complainants, Dr. Romesh De Silva for the victim’s father and sister, Saliya Pieris and Thanuka Nandasiri for BASL, while Solicitor General Nerin Pulle appeared for the Attorney General. Faiszer Musthapha and Pulasthi Rupasinghe and Sierra Amarasiri appeared for the former president. Don Shramantha Jude Anthony Jayamaha was absent and unrepresented throughout the hearing.
Ven. Balangoda Buddhagosha Thero and Most Rev. Dr. Raymond Wickramasinghe have filed an intervention petition against the petition.
Posts Supreme Court invalidates Sirisena’s pardon First appeared in Daily News.
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