A worm in a fish curry served at the wedding ceremony

Attanagalla Magistrate K.R.V.T. Wandabona has ordered that the owner and manager of a luxury hotel in Nittambuwa be sentenced after their previous criminal records are called for, in connection with the incident where a worm was found in a fish curry served for lunch at a wedding ceremony held at the said hotel.

These two defendants, who pleaded guilty in court, were ordered to be remanded until the 19th of last month, and the Magistrate also ordered that their fingerprints be taken.

This unpleasant incident was reported on Thursday (18) at a wedding held at the relevant hotel. A doctor working at a major government hospital, who was present as a guest at the event, saw a worm in a piece of fish served there. He immediately took action and informed the Colombo Food Control Unit by phone.

Acting on information received from the Colombo Food Control Unit, Nittambuwa Chief Public Health Inspector K.C. Rajapaksa, Attanagalla Divisional Council Public Health Inspector Nilanga Wickremesinghe, and Alawala Public Health Inspector C.T.S.C. Dolawatta immediately visited the relevant hotel and took the portion of fish containing the worm into their custody. Following preliminary investigations, steps were taken to present the two suspects before the court on the 19th of last month.

When the case was called in court, initially only the hotel manager appeared, and since the owner was absent, the Magistrate decided to postpone the case until the afternoon, ordering the owner to appear immediately before the court. Later, when the case was recalled in the afternoon, both suspects appeared before the court and pleaded guilty to the charges against them. Here, the Nittambuwa Chief Public Health Inspector pointed out to the court that two previous cases had also been filed against these suspects. As those cases have concluded, the Magistrate decided that it would be appropriate to consider the previous criminal records of the offenders before imposing a sentence, and accordingly, the verdict was postponed until August 07th. Attorney Ms. Sihara Mihirani appeared for the defendants, and a team of regional health inspection officers, under the guidance of the Chief Food Inspectors of Colombo, led this raid and complaint.