4 Army men sentenced 30 years each for gang rape and sexual abuse

4 Army men, Pandithagethara Shantha Subasinghe, Pathirana Bandaranayake Priyanthakumara, Thelgollege Thanuska Puspakumara,and Kobberalagegedera Thanuska Priyalal Rathnayake were sentenced to 30 years  rigorous  imprisonment  by Jaffna High Court Magistrate M.Illancheliyan yesterday, for gang raping 28 years old mother of two children and sexually abusing 38 years old mother of 5 children in Visuvamadhu in 2010.

Further,  the accused were ordered to pay 500,000/= each as compensation to the raped woman and 200,000/= each for the sexually abused woman.

In this case 4 army men were accused of trespassing into a house at around mid-night and raping a woman and sexually abusing another woman and assaulting other household members.

In his judgment the Judge said that  the women had lost what was preserved at the height of the war during peace and those who had to protect the civilians had violated all norms and that this is a great disgrace to the Army. He also commented that as per international laws this constitutes a war crime.

The court house was filled to capacity to hear the verdict and special security arrangements were made in the court house and for the judge M.Illancheliyan.