The Supreme Court yesterday (1) dismissed the final appeal filed by notorious drug trafficker Gampola Vidanalage Samantha Kumara, alias ‘Wele Suda’, who had been sentenced to death over heroin trafficking charges.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence imposed on him by the Colombo High Court.
The order was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Supreme Court Justices Mahinda Samayawardhena, Arjuna Obeysekera, and Sobitha Rajakaruna.
Wele Suda had been convicted for possessing and trafficking 7.05 grams of heroin in the Mount Lavinia area in 2008. Subsequently, on 14 October 2015, the Colombo High Court sentenced him to death.
The sentence had been delivered by incumbent Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, who was serving as a High Court Judge at the time.
Following the High Court ruling, the accused initially appealed to the Court of Appeal seeking acquittal, but the appeal was dismissed.
Thereafter, he filed a final appeal before the Supreme Court seeking to overturn both the High Court and Court of Appeal judgments and requesting to be acquitted of all charges.
When the appeal was taken up before the Supreme Court, President’s Counsel Kapila Waidyaratne appeared on behalf of Wele Suda and presented submissions.
Appearing for the Attorney General, Additional Solicitor General Lakmali Karunanayake strongly opposed the appeal.
After considering submissions from both parties, the three-judge bench ruled that the petition lacked sufficient legal grounds to warrant a hearing and refused leave to proceed, ordering its immediate dismissal.
