British tourist’s killing: Case transferred to Colombo due to threats

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) yesterday informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s court that the case of the murder of British tourist Kuram Shaikh had been transferred to Colombo due to the suspects allegedly threatening witnesses.

The case which was initially heard at the Tangalle Magistrate’s court was taken up in Colombo yesterday after the Attorney General’s department requested the transfer on special grounds.

The court directed suspects not to interfere with witnesses, while ordering them to appear in court on Nov. 1.

British Member of Parliament Simon Danczuk recently urged Premier David Cameron to boycott the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) over the failure on the part of the Sri Lankan government to conduct a proper investigation. The British media quoted Danczuk as having said: “Despite assurances from the government that there would be a swift and straight forward trial this is going nowhere and ministers and police are sitting on their hands.

Every year thousands of British tourists visit Sri Lanka … and what happened to Khuram could happen to anyone. It’s not enough to keep building tourist resorts if there is no rule of law and tourists can be brutally killed for any apparent reason.”

(Courtesy: The Island)