The Anuradhapura High Court yesterday found a 70-year-old doctor guilty of the charge of “raping” a 25-year-old mother of one who had come to a medical center to remove a contraceptive IUD. (Loop) The order was given when the case was taken up again before Anuradhapura High Court Judge Dr. Nalin De Hewawasam.
It was revealed in court that the rape had been committed on or about January 20, 2020, at the defendant doctor’s medical center in Thisawewa, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Anuradhapura High Court, under the pretext of removing the IUD she was wearing.
The judge sentenced the accused doctor to fifteen years of rigorous imprisonment and also ordered him to pay a compensation of one and a half million rupees to the victim.
The High Court judge also sentenced the accused doctor to another three years of imprisonment if he failed to pay the compensation.
In addition, the accused doctor was ordered to pay a fine of one hundred thousand rupees and if he did not pay it, he was sentenced to another year of imprisonment.
The High Court judge, while imposing the sentence, said that the prosecution had succeeded in proving the allegations made by the prosecution against the accused doctor beyond reasonable doubt, and accordingly, he was found guilty of the rape charge against the accused.
Senior Counsel Kalinga Ravindra, who appeared for the accused doctor, said in court that he was surprised by the verdict. The lawyer emphasized before the court that his client, who has treated hundreds of thousands of patients for about 40 years, did not commit this offense.
The prison sentence was imposed on a doctor named Wijekoon Wijeratne, a resident of the Tissawewa area in Anuradhapura. He worked at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital and Ranawarawa Hospital and retired. He was arrested by the Anuradhapura Police in connection with the incident and produced before the Anuradhapura Magistrate’s Court and released on bail.
This is reportedly the first time in history that a court in the North Central Province has sentenced a defendant doctor to such a serious prison sentence for a criminal offense.