Supreme Court affirms death sentence for Newton

 

Death penalty on Newton who murdered Angulana youth because of paramour .... 
 confirmed !!!!

Death penalty was once again imposed on OIC of Angulana Police yesterday being accused of illegally detaining 2 young men and causing them physical and mental torture; finally murdering them. The death sentence given to him previously was confirmed yesterday by Appeal Courts.



The guilty party in this instance happens to be T.D. Newton, OIC of Angulana police station. Suffering from a serious condition of diabetes, one of his legs has been amputated.


The dead bodies of 2 young men who had attempted to poke fun at a woman who had been maintaining an illicit relationship with this OIC during the month of August in the year 2009. They were taken to the police and had been tortured and killed and their dead bodies had been thrown by the wayside close to Angulana, Moratuwa at two different locations and were later found. As a result of this incident, the public who surrounded the police station began to hurl stones at the police station creating a terrible uproar.

At an inquiry held later, it was revealed that the OIC, together with his officers had committed these murders by using his police powers for his personal gain.

The abduction of the 2 young men took place on the night of August 12, 2009, and as a consequence, Dinesh Tharanga Fernando aged 21 years and Dhanushka Udayakantha Aponso (28) were killed.

It was understood that the two of them had gone near the Angulana playground with the idea of taking a drink of alcohol that night and in one instance had gone to a nearby house to ask for a box of matches from the woman in the house.

The woman concerned had gone to Angulana police station and lodged a complaint to the effect that 2 youth who had said that they were from the army had asked for a box of matches and had poked fun at her because of the connection she had with the OIC.

At that time, the OIC of Angulana T.D. Newton too was attending a small party thrown by a police friend of his at the latter's home.It was reported that he too was after liquor and having come to hear of the aforesaid incident had then got involved in the issue.

It is said that the police officers had got into the same three-wheeler in which the woman had come and had proceeded to the site where the 2 young boys were with the intention of arresting them. However, in the end, the 2 youth were taken into police custody.

The news that Dhanushka and Tharanga both were arrested by Angulana police spread around Angulana area that night itself and immediately the parents of the two boys had arrived at Angulana police station and inquired about their sons.

Those who came to the police station left the place about 2 in the morning after seeing Tharanga and Dhanushka in the police cell. Though the kith and kin of the 2 young men once again called over at the police station when dawn broke on the 13th, not being able to see the 2 children inside the police cell had naturally inquired about them and the response they got in that connection was that the 2 youth had been taken to Mount Lavinia police.

Whatever it is, as the boys were not to be found at the Mount Lavinia police station, they had begun searching from place to place ending without any success, not being able to find any clue. However, towards afternoon, a dead body which was washed ashore was identified as that of one of the missing boys.

The other boy's dead body was found near the Angulana bridge. Neighbourhood in the area was struck with such a deep shock that they surrounded the police station and when they began to hurl stones at the building, those on duty at police stations around the area had to come to the assistance; after which they managed to control the agitated crowd. As a consequence of the conflict that took place between the two parties, a few people to suffered injuries.

Though the OIC T.D. Newton and his comrades tried to give the impression that the murders were committed by the underworld or the LTTE, their plans ended in vain. The end result was that under 8  indictments of the Attorney-General against the former OIC of Angulana and those involved in the killing and on the understanding that the case be concluded without unnecessary delay, the suspects were kept under detention orders. The court case in this connection was heard through a period of 2 years.

After an inquiry which was conducted in the presence of a 3-member bench of judges, a death penalty was passed on the former OIC of Angulana police, D.T. Newton and 4 other suspects.

It was concluded without any doubt that those accused were proved guilty of the criminal offence of abducting these 2 youth and were murdered.

The petition which was forwarded to Appeal Courts challenging that verdict was anulled yesterday.

It was decided to do so yesterday after considering it in the presence of a 5-member bench of judges after an examination was made to the effect that the act of illegally detaining a person by members of security forces of a country and killing them by inflicting physical and mental torture on such persons amounts to a serious crime.