Colombo High Court Judge Upali Abeyratne sentenced to death Suppaiah Paulraj

Colombo High Court Judge Upali Abeyratne sentenced to death Suppaiah Paulraj, an accused found guilty of murdering a Lankan woman journalist. 
Paulraj and Nainaduwa Handiyage Nihal had been indicted for the murder of H. D. Marie Loila, 34, a resident of Bambalapitya and a freelance overseas correspondent on February 14, 1994. Nihal was acquitted as charges against him could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
According to evidence, the two worked at Loila's home doing temporary jobs.
On the night of the incident, a neighbour had heard a woman screaming although the lights were out at Loila's house.
As the lights continued to be out the following day the neighbour made a complaint to the Police.
Later, Police recovered Loila's body inside a wooden box in the store room in her house. Police also discovered that the medals of Loila's late father, an ex-Army Major, were missing.
They were found under the grinding stone in Paulraj's house.
Postmortem reports revealed that the death was due to strangling.