Ranatunga pleads for out of court settlement in assault case

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has pleaded for an out of court settlement after being accused of assaulting schoolboys last year, according to court officials.

Ranatunga, 39, who is now a member of parliament, his brother Prasanna and three others, were charged on 36 counts of assaulting and detaining the students after an incident in March 2001.

The seven teenagers, aged between 16-18, were playing a game of street cricket outside Asoka College in Colombo. The incident occurred when they tried to retrieve their tennis ball after it fell into the Ranatunga family home.

Ranatunga's lawyers pleaded for an out of court settlement when the case resume last Wednesday and the court have ordered them to work out a suitable compensation package by Sept 27.

The victims' lawyers told the court that one of the students, 17-year-old Hirimuthuge Dilshan Danuska, has been forced to seek treatment because of the mental trauma induced by the assault.

After the incident the Ranatunga family had complained that the students has verbally abused their mother, arguing that political opponents had staged the confrontation and the demonstrations that had followed.

Ranatunga would lose his seat in the parliament if convicted.