A Sri Lankan court has sentenced 18 men to death for murdering a US tea company executive. <br/><br/>The court found the men – members of a criminal gang – guilty of hacking Nihal Perera to death three years ago on the outskirts of Colombo. Court officials said, the verdict was a legal record with the largest number of defendants sentenced to death in a single trial.<br/><br/>Perera, a Sri Lankan national, was the superintendent of the Noori Estate tea plantation managed by Texas-based firm, Walters Bay. <br/><br/>The killing had triggered a public outcry about police collusion with criminal gangs led by members of former president Mahinda Rajapakse's party.