Monaragala High Court Judge Nishantha Wijesekera sentenced a 49-year-old schoolteacher and mother of two to eight years in prison after she was found guilty on three charges of sexually abusing a 14-year-old schoolboy whom she had taken to her home and obtaining obscene photographs of him.The judge imposed a sentence of eight years for each of the three charges, amounting to a total of 24 years in prison, but ordered that the sentences be served concurrently, making the effective prison term eight years.

In addition, the court imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 on the defendant and ordered her to pay compensation of Rs. 250,000 for each charge, totaling Rs. 750,000, to the boy who had been victimized.The defendant was also sentenced to one year of simple imprisonment if she failed to pay the compensation and a further year of simple imprisonment if she failed to pay the fine.

The sentence was imposed on a 49-year-old woman who had worked as a teacher at a school in the Nannapurawa area.The Attorney General had filed indictments against her in connection with an incident on 29 September 2019, in which she allegedly took the 14-year-old schoolboy to her home, sexually abused him and obtained obscene photographs of him.When the 38-page indictment was read out to the defendant, who was in the dock, on the 6th, she fainted and collapsed, prompting arrangements for her to be admitted to hospital.After recovering, she was produced before the court again on the 8th, following which the verdict was delivered.