The Civil High Court has denied the request for an appeal from Salote Radrodro, a former Member of Parliament for the Social Democratic Liberal Party. The case was reviewed by Justice Deepthi Amarantunga earlier this month.
Justice Amarantunga stated that Radrodro was found guilty following a trial with evidence presented during the proceedings. He noted that the claims of a denied fair trial stem from the transfer of the case from the Magistrate’s Court to a different division of the High Court. He emphasized that any merits regarding the allegations could be properly evaluated in an Appeal by the Court of Appeal, rather than through Constitutional Redress, which is deemed inappropriate for this situation due to considerations of efficiency, consistency, and fairness.
The judge described the attempt to appeal against the dismissal of the case as an abuse of the legal process for the stated reasons.
In the background of this case, Radrodro sought permission to appeal an interlocutory ruling that dismissed her request for Constitutional Redress concerning alleged abuse of process. She had been charged in the Magistrates Court, and her case was later moved to a division within the High Court. Radrodro contested this transfer, but the lower court’s decision was upheld, and no further appeals were made.
The court heard that Radrodro’s claims of a denied right to a fair trial were based on the inability of her trial to proceed before a Resident-Magistrate. The same issue regarding the right to a fair trial related to the transfer of her case remains a point of appeal in the Court of Appeal.
Despite these considerations, the High Court concluded that Radrodro’s request for Leave to Appeal was denied, with no order for costs issued.