• Lawyer claims findings in complete post-mortem report made by a doctor (Colombo JMO) previously barred by SLMC from practising for 8 months 

President's Counsel (PC) Anuja Premaratne, who is appearing for members of deceased Janashakthi PLC Director Dinesh Schaffter’s family, in the latter's death inquest, yesterday (9) informed Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya that the post-mortem report of Schaffter submitted by Colombo Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Ruhul Haq contains contradictory findings.

As the investigation officers informed the Court that investigations into the death of Schaffter are not yet over, the Additional Magistrate postponed the announcement of the decision with regard to the death inquest. Additional Magistrate Jayasuriya stated that the decision will be announced when all the relevant investigation reports are submitted to the Court.

When Schaffter's death inquest was taken up before Jayasuriya yesterday, Premaratne PC informed the Court that the initial post-mortem report sans the results of the Government Analyst’s findings based on the samples taken from the body states that the death was due to strangulation, while the complete post-mortem report states that the death was due to strangulation as well as the ingestion of cyanide. Accordingly, he said that the latter post-mortem report, which has been obtained from a person who Premaratne PC claimed had been banned from practising medicine for a period of eight months by the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), contains contradictory findings. In the preliminary report on the autopsy conducted on the death of Schaffter, he said that it was mentioned that there were scratches on Schaffter's face which could be thought to be injuries, red marks on his neck while noting also that the insides of his fingers were purple coloured. Accordingly, he said that the report dated 16 December 2022, was given at that time by observing the body of the deceased and that it states that breathing had stopped due to strangulation with a string. 

In the full post-mortem report, the PC stated that the cause of death had been mentioned as either strangulation or cyanide ingestion, expressing his (JMO) opinion that the cyanide had been ingested with food. Premaratne PC told the Court that the relevant report states that 150 millilitres of cyanide was contained in the food that had been digested to some extent in Schaffter's stomach. He also stated that according to medical science, if cyanide is ingested by a person, it does not cause the death of cells, but causes the body to turn pink due to the cells not being able to absorb oxygen. 

However, he said that the relevant JMO has mentioned in the report that the upper part of the chest of Schaffter had been blackened. He further said that the relevant report mentions an amount of cyanide which is lesser than the amount which Schaffter's blood should contain, according to the relevant reports submitted by the Government Analyst. Considering all the matters and contradictions in the reports, he requested the Additional Magistrate not to give a verdict on the death inquest of Schaffter at this point.

Sub Inspector of Police (SI) Manoj Gayantha of the Homicide and Organised Crime Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) which investigated Schaffter's death testified before the Court yesterday. He said that a total of 14 investigation teams have been conducting investigations into the incident, while statements have been recorded from 20 persons, and 26 closed circuit television (CCTV) camera systems from Schaffter's residence to the Borella General Cemetery have been inspected. During the investigation, he said that it was found that the deceased businessman had made financial transactions with four other businesspersons, namely Brian Thomas, Aellian Gunawardene, S. Uganathan, and Deepthi Perera, and that the deceased had suffered losses in those transactions, and also that the biggest loss was due to transactions with Thomas. 

SI Gayantha further said that investigations were carried out on data pertaining to WhatsApp, Imo, and Viber. He also said that it was revealed during the investigations that none of those four businesspersons and any other person related to them had been in contact with Schaffter over the phone (covering the telecommunication signal towers within the Borella General Cemetery and its surrounding areas) on 15 December 2022, on the day of the latter's death.

Following the testimony of the SI, the Additional Magistrate observed that the investigations into the death have not yet been completed by the investigation officers. Accordingly, Additional Magistrate Jayasuriya said that a verdict on the death inquest will not be given at this point, and ordered the investigation teams to submit a complete investigation report to the Court on or before 8 March, when the matter will be taken up again.

Schaffter died at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) in Colombo on 15 December 2022, after being found tied to the driver's seat in his vehicle with a wire around his neck. He had left home that afternoon, according to a statement made by his wife, to attend a meeting and had not returned home. His wife had located Schaffter near the Borella Cemetery via Global Positioning System based tracking. Schaffter’s secretary and former company director Patrick Chris Perera had then immediately arrived at the scene, following which he had taken Schaffter to the NHSL. The NHSL confirmed the same day night that Schaffter had passed away upon admission.