Royal Park murder: Maithripala tells court granting presidential pardon was not arbitrary

The decision to grant a presidential pardon to the Royal Park murder convict, Jude Jayamaha was not an arbitrary move, President Maithripala Sirisena told the Supreme Court today (July 13).

Shramantha Jayamaha was convicted of murdering 19-year-old Swedish national, Yvonne Jonsson on July 01, 2005, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Colombo High Court.

In 2012, the Appeals Court overturned the sentence on Shramantha Jayamaha from 12 years to a death sentence. Later, in October 2013, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence given by the Appeals Court to Shramantha Jayamaha.

In early November 2019, former President Sirisena released the convict on a presidential pardon.

During court proceedings today, President’s Counsel Faisz Mustapha, who represented Sirisena, told the judge bench that the decision to commute the death sentence handed to the murder convict to life imprisonment had been made pursuant to all provisions under the Constitution.

The decision was made based on the recommendations of a report compiled by a spcial committee consisting of the then-Commissioner General of Prisons, then-Justice Minister and civil organizations, Mustapha said further.

As the second step of this presidential pardon, the murder convict was released from prison, the former president’s lawyer further told the court, clarifying that this too was done after taking into account the special requests made by parliamentarians, the convict’s mother and social activists.