Murderer of Mel Gunasekara gets death sentence

The Colombo High Court today imposed the death sentence on the individual accused and convicted for the murder of journalist Melicia Gunasekara in 2014.

Delivering the verdict in the case after a trial which lasted over 3 years, Colombo High Court Judge Piyasena Ranasingha today sentenced Anthony Ramson George to death after the state attorney had sought the maximum punishment as he had two prior convictions.

The 40-year-old Mel Gunasekara, a graduate of the University of East London, was working as an editor for Sunday Times at the time of her death.

She was stabbed to death in her Battaramulla home on February 02, 2014, while her parents and younger brother, had left for church to attend the Sunday mass.

Melicia Gunasekera, was found lying lifelessly on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood.

The suspect, who had previously been hired to paint the victim’s home, had broken into the house with the intention of burglarizing it.

She had founded the Lanka Business Online website before working for the French news agency, AFP, and then going freelance.

(Ada Derana)