Rs. 1.25m fine for killing and burying of tusker in Karuwalagaswewa
Four people who pleaded guilty for electrocuting a tusker and burying its body have been fined Rs. 1.25 million by the Puttalam Magistrate’s Court.
Additional Magistrate Asela de Silva imposed the fine on Tuesday on the four accused including the main accused M. D. Roshan Anuruddha Dissanayake, alias “Ali Roshan.” They were arrested following an investigation into the discovery of a buried tusker carcass.
Wildlife officers had discovered that the tusker had been electrocuted on or before November 21 last year near a cultivated field in Nelum Wewa. The carcass had then been buried in a large hole dug using a JCB vehicle.
After the investigation, wildlife officers arrested five people including a woman and produced them in court.
At the conclusion of a trial lasting nearly three months, the four accused males pleaded guilty to the offence. Accord i n g l y, “A l i Roshan” was fined Rs. 500, 000. The magistrate ordered the accused to pay the fine to court on that day itself, ordering that he be sentenced to a further six months’ rigorous imprisonment if he failed to do so.
The magistrate also fined D. M. Sineth Nishantha, M. D. Janaka Ruwan Dissanayake and K. Jayaweera Perera, who were the third, fourth
and fifth accused, Rs. 250, 000 each and ordered the fines to be paid before July 26.
Vadiwel Walli Amma, the second accused, pleaded not guilty to the offence and the Additional Magistrate allowed for the case against her to continue.
Wildlife officers said the tusker who was killed was around 35 years and stood at nearly eight feet in height. The elephant’s tusks are in the hands of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).
Karuwalagaswewa DWC Range Officers D. Ramasinghe and Thilina Dissanayake appeared on behalf of the department.