Hotel Manageress testifies in Khuram Shaikh murder case

The Manageress of the hotel in Tangalle where British National Khuram Shaikh was murdered testified in court that she witnessed the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman, Sampath Chandrapushpa Vidanapathirana assaulting the victim.

The case filed against the PS Chairman and six others was brought before the Colombo High Court yesterday (March 31).

The witness testified to the fact that the Vidanapathirana and three others had assaulted Shaikh and his girlfriend in the hotel premises.

She also claimed that she was threatened with a gun when she attempted to go to the police with her account.

The witness will be cross examined by the attorneys when the case is taken up again on April 2.

Meanwhile, prison authorities discovered five mobile phones in the Vidanapathirana’s remand cell. Three sim cards were also found in the cell which he shares with nine others.

The Chairman of the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha and six others are accused of the murder of Khuram Shaikh, the British tourist who was killed in the 2011 Christmas Eve tragedy at a hotel in Tangalle. His girlfriend was also assaulted in the attack and subsequently molested.

A Red Cross worker in Gaza, Shaikh was on a holiday in Sri Lanka when he was shot and stabbed when he and his Russian girlfriend were attacked at the Tangalle hotel.

(Ada Derana)