A monk was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and suspended for five years for sexual abuse.

A monk was today sentenced to 18 months of rigorous imprisonment suspended for five years by the Colombo High Court after pleading guilty to the charges relating to committing grave sexual abuse to a 13-year-old boy. High Court judge Manjula Tillekaratne further ordered the accused to pay a fine of Rs. 3000 and awarded Rs. 500,000 in compensation to the victim in respect of three counts filed in terms of Section 365B (2) (b) of the Penal Code. The Attorney General had filed indictments against the accused for committing grave sexual abuse of an underage boy punishable in terms of Section 365B (2) (b) of the Penal Code between January 2017 and January 2018. Attorney-at-law Namal Rajapaksha, appearing for the accused, sought a lenient punishment since his client pleaded guilty to the charges at the initial stage without wasting the court's valuable time.