Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya yesterday (27) ordered the Government Analyst to conduct a voice test and submit a report to the court of Pastor Jerome Fernando,
who has been remanded for making harmful statements regarding Buddhism.
The Magistrate issued this order after taking a request made by the Criminal Investigation Department to order the suspect to be submitted to the Government Analyst for a voice test to confirm the incident into consideration.
The court ordered that the suspect be further remanded until January 3. When the magisterial inquiry related to this incident was called again yesterday (27), the suspect was brought before the court by the prison. The Criminal Investigation Department, which submitted a DVD containing the audio related to the harmful statements made by the suspect, requested the court to accept it as evidence. President’s Counsel Anuja Premaratne, who appeared in the court on behalf of the suspect, said that a short period should be given to recall this case.
Earlier, CID initiated an investigation into the suspect’s statements and as a result, they requested the court to issue an order banning him from traveling abroad.
The pastor who returned to Sri Lanka from abroad on November 29 was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department on December 1 when he went to the Criminal Investigation Department to give a statement.
The Criminal Investigation Department had presented the facts to the court that the relevant statement was made by this pastor on April 30.
Nimanthi Ranasinghe