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By APD writer Easwaran
COLOMBO, Sept. 27 (APD) -- A Sri Lanka court on Wednesday sentenced seven accused to death over the the rape and murder of a schoolgirl.
A trial-at-bar at the High Court in the northern Jaffna town issued the death sentence over the rape and murder of Sivaloganathan Vithya.
Vithya was abducted and raped in 2015 before she was killed. Among those sentenced to death was the main suspect identified as Swiss Kumar.
During the case it was revealed that Swiss Kumar had arrived in Sri Lanka from overseas with the intention of video recording the rape and murder of the girl. The girl had been abducted by one of nine suspects, arrested over the incident, before being raped and killed.
The three judge bench was told that Swiss Kumar had wanted to sell the video of the rape and murder to a contact in Switzerland.
It was also revealed that one suspect was in love with the victim but the girl had rejected his advances.
This had reportedly led to the suspect turning his failed love into outrage and agreeing to abduct the girl.
In all, 41 charges were filed against the suspects in the murder of the 18-year-old girl in May 2015.
Grief turned to anger soon after Vithya was found dead, with friends and others demanding justice.
Following the rape and murder of the girl just a few months after President Maithripala Sirisena took office, the President had assured that a special court will be set up to ensure speedy and proper justice in the case of brutal rape-murder of the school girl in Jaffna.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
