10-year-old suffers harsh penalty
Toy pistol was irresistible
A tenyear- old child who confessed to stealing a toy pistol was handed over to the Asoka Children’s Home pending the delivery of the sentence by Nochchiyagama Magistrate Chamara Kekirideniya.
Two brother rob temple donations
The two suspects Sittaravel Sivakumar and Sittaravel Yogarajah were residents of Kandenuwara in Rattota
Two brothers who had stolen Rs. 184,000 from donations made to the Sri Muttumari Amman Temple in Matale to build a house were produced before the Matale Magistrate and Addl. District Judge Chaturika de Silva and remanded till June 19.
The two suspects Sittaravel Sivakumar and Sittaravel Yogarajah were residents of Kandenuwara in Rattota. Residents of the area suspected them of the theft when they bought building materials and laid the foundation to build a large house. They informed the police under whose interrogation the two suspects admitted to the theft.
Police recovered Rs. 40,000 from a suspect’s bank account and Rs 48,000 from their house. SI Gayan Gunawardene of the Matale police headquarters produced the suspects in court.
A ten- year- old child who confessed to stealing a toy pistol was handed over to the Asoka Children’s Home pending the delivery of the sentence by Nochchiyagama Magistrate Chamara Kekirideniya.
The child had been arrested and produced before the magistrate by Rajangana police on a complaint made by a resident of Angamuwa Tract 8 in Rajangana, H.A. Dinushima Ishani Herath. An attorney- at-law Buddhika Lewke Bandara volunteered to appear for the child. However when the child admitted his guilt, the magistrate ordered police to hand over the child to the Asoka Children’s Home.
The lawyer who came to know that the child was arrested for stealing a toy had earlier given some money to the child’s uncle to purchase toys for the child. The child’s uncle met the lawyer after the case was postponed and showed the toys and the receipts issued when he purchased the toys for his nephew. The lawyers in the unofficial Bar were of the opinion that the case could have been referred to a conciliation board for settlement without producing the child in court.