The Court of Appeal has upheld the 10-year rigorous imprisonment sentence imposed by the High Court on Uduwila Sujatha Thera after finding him guilty of sexually abusing a nine-year-old boy.
The court dismissed in full the appeal filed by the monk, affirming both the conviction and sentence handed down by the High Court.
The judgment was delivered by a two-judge bench comprising Court of Appeal Judges B. Shashi Mahendran and Amal Ranaraja.
President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris, with Attorney-at-Law Rukshan Mendis, appeared for the appellant, while State Counsel Akila Dalpadadu appeared for the prosecution.
According to court records, the offences took place in 2009, when the accused monk was serving as the chief incumbent of a forest hermitage.
The victim, then a Grade Four student aged about nine, had temporarily gone to live with his aunt due to his mother’s serious illness. He had attended a Daham school attached to a nearby temple.
The court heard that, amid severe financial hardship and based on guidance from another monk, the family had decided to ordain the child. Pending preparations for ordination, the child had been staying at the hermitage.
The first incident occurred on 21 August 2009 while the child was staying in a room at the hermitage, where he was subjected to sexual abuse by the accused monk, according to the judgment.
The Appeal Court judgment states that the child cried in pain and pleaded for the act to stop. The court noted that the abuse ceased only after repeated crying and pleas by the child.
Fear and concern over his mother’s illness had prevented the child from immediately disclosing the abuse, the court heard.
However, the judgment states that the child was sexually abused again on 16 September 2009.
Following the second incident, the child fled the temple, returned to his aunt’s residence, and disclosed the abuse, after which a Police complaint was lodged.
A Judicial Medical Officer who examined the child on 21 September 2009 testified that there was a severe injury to the child’s anal region and that the physical findings, together with the medical history, were consistent with recent anal penetration.
Although the incidents occurred in 2009, indictments were filed by the Attorney General in 2019. The High Court delivered its verdict in 2023 following a lengthy trial.
The defence sought to challenge the victim’s evidence by pointing to minor inconsistencies in testimony given years after the incidents. However, the Court of Appeal held that such minor lapses were natural given the lengthy passage of time and did not undermine the substance of the evidence.
The court also noted testimony by the investigating officer that the accused monk had allegedly requested that the matter be settled outside court through discussions with the complainant party during the investigation.
After reviewing the evidence and applicable legal precedents, the Court of Appeal held that the High Court judgment was correct and rejected the appeal.
Accordingly, the court affirmed the sentence of 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a Rs. 2,000 fine, with a further six-month prison term in default of payment.
The court also upheld an order directing the payment of Rs. 200,000 in compensation to the victim, with an additional two-year prison term in default of payment.
The sentence is to take immediate effect.
