Seven fishermen sentenced to death over 2012 boat hijacking and triple murder

Seven fishermen convicted of hijacking a fishing boat and killing three other fishermen in 2012 have been sentenced to death.

Accordingly, the relevant sentence was issued by the Colombo High Court, when the case was taken up this morning (24 Jan.).

Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabendige further sentenced the accused to 29 years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI), while imposing a fine of Rs. 2,008,500, each.

In October 2012, the accused had hijacked a fishing boat (‘Thejan’) off Tangalle, and killed three fishermen aboard while critically injuring several others, in order to illegally migrate to Australia.

Following a lengthy trial, the judge, announcing the verdict, said the charges levelled against the accused have been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Meanwhile, a female accused in the case was acquitted and released.

The then-Attorney General had filed the case against 11 individuals. As three of them had died in litigation, the proceedings of the case were continued against 8 defendants.