By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Warrant Officer Francis Foday Kamara attached to 4th Battalion, Teko Barracks in Makeni, Monday testified at the court martial presided over by Judge Advocate Otto During that there was no loss of arms or ammunition from the arms store.
Kamara who was the Sergeant-Major for ‘C’ Company at the barracks made this statement while testifying on behalf of Private Kelly Kamara and Mustapha Quee, 10th and 11th accused persons respectively of the ongoing trial of 13 soldiers accused of mutiny. He mentioned in court that between 6th and 10th August, 2013, being the date the alleged mutiny took place, the accused persons were in active duty.
Whilst at the battalion performing their military duties, Kamara continued, the two accused persons would always go to his office immediately after their day’s duty came to end to collect the arms store key and the ammunition so that the they could issue arms and ammunition to soldiers posted to essential guard duty areas. He further stated that when the said soldiers returned the arms and ammunition to the office the following morning, the accused persons would ensure that the arms and live rounds were properly checked before depositing them in the guardroom and the ammunition handed over to him for safe custody.
While rounding up his testimony, the witness reiterated that throughout his supervision of the two accused persons, he never received any report of loss of arm or ammunition, nor a report of breakage of the arms store.
“The two accused persons were never in control of the arms store key, as well as the arms and ammunition,” Kamara stressed.
During cross examination conducted by court prosecutor Vincent Sowa, Warrant Officer Kamara also revealed that he was relieved of his duty as Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (RQMS) in July, 2014.
When asked to show the court how he`d known the accused persons were on duty, he said that there was a book referred to as the Handing Over and Taking Over (HOTO) book where the accused persons used to sign whenever they reported for duty, although he never examined the book in question.
In the re-examination conducted by defence counsel, Thomas Beah, the witness mentioned that he was not privy to the book because there was a corporal responsible to supervise it.
The two accused persons on whose behalf the witness appeared in court had earlier testified last week that they were the arms store personnel responsible for issuing arms and ammunition to the essential guard duty soldiers. They mentioned also that they performed effective military duties and that there was no loss of arms or ammunition, neither was any breakage done to the arms store.
The decision for the witness to testify for the two accused persons was sanctioned last week by Judge Advocate Otto During following an application made by the defence counsel.
“Since the witness was the supervisor for the two accused persons, he was therefore a witness common to both accused persons,” Thomas Beah said during his application.
Arrested in August in 2013, the thirteen accused persons standing trial at the court martial face charges for various offences including conspiracy, mutiny and failure to suppress mutiny. They have been in remand since their arrest although they deny all charges brought against them.
The matter comes up again on Wednesday, 2nd March, 2015.
© Politico 12/03/15
