The police officers sentenced to death were Inspector Senaka Karunasena who was officer-in-charge (OIC) at the Bandarawela police station and Sub-Inspector Tyrrone Ratnayake of the Diyatalawa police station. The other three are villagers of the area.
According to evidence by witnesses in court, a boy was hacked to death by policemen and civilians belonging to a Sinhalese nationalist group, even as he begged a senior police officer to spare his life. Four Tamils were burned alive and another’s head was severed with an electric hacksaw.
A large number of policemen were present at the scene of the massacre. The court said that the police failed to prevent the killings thereby colluding with the civilians involved. Judge Sarath Ambepitiya said that the killings could have been avoided if not for the complicity of the police officers and condemned the police for shooting at victims who sought protection from them.