Sri Lanka, July 16 -- A Court of Appeal judgment has exposed the extraordinary delays in Sri Lanka's criminal justice system, revealing that a 11-year-old victim of grave sexual abuse in 2001 was only able to testify before the High Court in 2023, approximately 22 years after the alleged offence.

The judgment, delivered by a two-judge bench comprising Justices P. Kumararatnam and Pradeep Hettiarachchi, observed that the victim was 33 years old when he gave evidence during the trial, despite the offences having allegedly occurred when he was a child.

The case relates to an indictment filed by the Attorney General against K.S. Rathnasiri on charges of kidnapping a minor from lawful guardianship and committing grave sexual abuse under S...