By Francis H. Murray
One Foday Jusu Yambasu, who is alleged to have murdered Sorie Kamara, has told a jury at the High Court in Freetown that he relied on his statement to the police and will therefore not call any witnesses to testify in his defence.
His decision follows the close of the Prosecution’s case before Justice Monfred Sesay, leaving the accused with the option of either testifying from the dock, or take the witness stand and testify on oath relying on his statement to the police.
In his closing address to the jurors, State Prosecutor Joseph A. K. Sesay told the court that two people were charged in respect of the murder, adding that one had died in prison leaving only Yambasu to be tried on a one count indictment of murder for which he had pleaded not guilty.
He said during the course of the trial, he tendered several exhibits and summoned seven prosecution witnesses, including the government Consultant Pathologist Dr Simeon Owizz Koroma who established the cause of death of the deceased.
Lawyer Sesay submitted that conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to do an unlawful act or to do a lawful act by an unlawful means, and that the prosecution had proved that the accused person conspired together with others not before the court and murdered the deceased.
He added that the deceased died after the accused hit him with a cutlass on his head which eventually led to his death on the 14th September 2018.
He noted that the wife of the deceased in her testimony told the court that she was home with her husband when her daughter came home crying and reported that the accused flogged her.
The prosecutor maintained that the deceased (husband) went straight to the house of the accused and later returned with an injury on his head, adding that on 11th September 2018, the accused with others unknown attacked the deceased at Goderich and killed him with a cutlass.
He noted that the 3rd prosecution witness had told the court that when the deceased confronted the accused, he first slapped him and later went inside and brought a cutlass and hit him on his head.
Addressing the jurors, defence Lawyer from Legal Aid said the burden of proof solely rested on the shoulders of the prosecution and that in the event he leaves any iota of doubt in the minds of the jurors in respect of proving any of the elements of murder, would be left in favour of the accused.
He argued that because the wife of the deceased was not present at the time of the alleged attack, she was not in a position to tell who had exactly inflicted the wound on the head of the deceased during the attack.
The prosecution alleges that the accused person between the 11th and 12th September 2018, at Hill Cut Road in Freetown, conspired with other persons unknown and murdered Sorie Kamara.
The accused was remanded at the Male Correctional Center in Freetown and Justice Sesay deferred his judgement to the 24th February 2021.
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