Panadura Provincial High Court Judge Damith Thotawatte pronounced in open court on Friday that he had concluded the voire dire inquiry into the confession made by the first accused in the Katubedda claymore bomb explosion case.
The confession had been made to A.S.P. Panamaldeniya of the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) when the accused was arrested by police in 2008.
In this case, Nadesan Kuganathan alias ‘Nenril’ and Thangavelu Nimalan alias ‘Selvam’, two LTTE activists were indicted by the Attorney General with exploding a Claymore mine inside a private coach proceeding on the Moratuwa – Katubedda Main Road on June 6, 2008, killing 40 passengers and causing grievous injuries to 40 other passengers, by using a remote controller.
There were 103 counts filed against them by the Attorney General, using an investigations report submitted to him by the TID under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
When the case was taken up before the Panadura Provincial High Court in 2013, lawyer Sri Kanthan appearing for the first accused called upon the court to hold a voire dire inquiry into the confession made to the ASP Panamaldeniya by the first accused.
He stated that the first accused had not made a voluntary confession to the ASP, but that the police had forcibly obtained his signature on the document.
The court decided to hold a voire dire inquiry into the alleged confession summoning ASP Panamaldeniya and other officers who conducted the investigations and recorded the confession of the first accused.
In evidence, police officers told court that the first accused made a voluntary confession to ASP Panamaldeniya after his arrest.
The first accused giving evidence before court denied that he made a voluntary confession to the ASP Panamaldeniya.
At the end of the inquiry, Senior State Counsel Madawa Tennakoon in his submissions told court that the first accused had made a voluntary confession to ASP Panamaldeniya and his confession had been filed with the case records to be taken as evidence in respect of the case.
Attorney-at-law Sanjaya Bandara appearing for the first accused told court that the first accused had not made a voluntary confession to the ASP regarding the Katubedda Claymore mine explosion which occurred in 2008. The alleged confession was a statement to fabricate a case against the two suspects involved in the case.
The judge, after recording the submissions of the Senior State Counsel Tennakoon and the defence counsel Bandara, postponed the order for November 27.
The two accused who were produced in court under heavy guard by prison officials were remanded by the judge till November 27.
from daily news