Sri Lankan court imposes death sentence on journalist s killer

Colombo July 5 (IANS) A Sri Lankan court imposed on Wednesday death sentence on a man convicted of murdering journalist Melicia Gunasekara in 2014.

Delivering the verdict in the case that lasted over three years Colombo High Court judge Piyasena Ranasingha sentenced Anthony Ramson George to death after the state attorney had also sought maximum punishment as the suspect had two prior convictions reports Xinhua.

Fourty-year-old Melicia popularly known as Mel was a graduate of the University of East London and worked as an editor for the local newspaper Sunday Times and a correspondent for the Colombo bureau of Agence France-Presse (AFP).

She was stabbed to death at her home in Colombo on February 2 2014 while her parents and younger brother were at home. She was found lying lifeless on the kitchen floor.

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

--IANS
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