By Francis H Murray
Mariama Sajor Barrie, the 1st accused in the alleged murder of 5-year old Khadija Saccoh has testified in her own defence before Justice John Bosco Allieu and a 12-member jury at the High Court in Freetown.
Led in evidence by her Lawyer Alhaji M. Kamara on Monday 1st March 2021, the witness described herself as a business woman, the deceased as her daughter because she is the daughter of her younger sister and the 2nd accused as her son. She said that the deceased lived with her in a compound she shares with her Landlord for over a year until her death.
Asked about her state of mind since the death of the deceased, the witness said “I alone know the pain that I feel. This is not even my normal stature but even if I said it now, no one would believe. I loved the deceased so much that even her mother and other relatives accused me of spoiling her and I normally took her out for fun and I even took photos with her.”
She further described the deceased as a “nice girl” who loved her and with whom she did everything in common including bathing and dressing.
The accused recalled that on the 17th of June 2020, she was home feeling so sick that she couldn’t even get up to prepare herself some hot water. “I lay in the living room and began to cry and the deceased left the room and came to me asking what was wrong and I told her that I was sick and dying. The 2nd accused also left his room and came to inquire and was told the same thing. So both of them helped me to get to the bathroom so that I could attend to myself,” she stated.
She went on to say that later the 2nd accused with the help of Alex Nallo got her some hot water to drink, adding that the deceased went to call one Aunty Agnes her neighbor to inform her about the situation.
She said because her condition was not getting any better, she sent the deceased into her room to take money from her bag to give to the 2nd accused to buy her some blood tonic, adding that the deceased took her (the witness) phone and attempted to call her mother to tell her about her condition but she stopped her even though she insisted on telling her mother. “So we talked on the phone and her mother advised me to go to the hospital but I told her that I couldn't even stand on my feet. The mother called one of her friends Sallay who also reported not feeling too well but would manage to come and take me to hospital but I told her that because I had taken some drugs, I needed to observe the situations till the next morning.”
The accused said while she told Sallay that Khadija had a cold which she (Sallay) also admitted to knowing because the deceased' mother had told her, Sallay asked that the 2nd accused goes to her place to collect some tablets and buy her Oral Rehydration Salt on the way.
The accused said that the stepfather of the deceased called to check on her and advised that she must go to the hospital but she insisted on observing her till the next morning. “Later the deceased came running inside from the veranda and lay on my chest and began to play with my breasts. I asked her what wrong but she only answered with a short hum and would not talk further. This happened repeatedly so I raised the alarm and called Agnes to say all was not well with Khadija. She came over and saw the situation and advised that we rush her to hospital,” she stressed.
She said, she took a motorcycle and went to Lumley hospital where the doctor after a brief examination advised they proceed to Connaught Hospital but that they ended up at Choithram’s Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The accused said that they took the body home and were later visited by Mrs. Isata Jabbie Kabba who inquired as to what had happened with the deceased and was told but requested to see the body. She said Mrs. Kabba called the father of the deceased and informed him about his daughter's demise. “After that phone conversation, Mrs. Kabba remarked that since I only showed her the corpse, I'll have to pay for it and I said that if I had anything to do with the death of the deceased then God should judge me in no time.”
According to the accused, she would normally take the deceased to Mrs. Kabba for weekends, stressing that she had never even beaten the deceased.
She said the next morning, a team from the Columbia Davies Funeral home came and took the body away and she hasn’t set eyes on the remains since then.
She told the court that she was not informed about the postmortem examination but went there when she received the news from someone and was arrested immediately after the postmortem and locked up at the CID. “After the postmortem, Dr. Owizz came with the results saying that the deceased was raped by two men after which he said I used a pillow to strangle her to death which I denied. But he asked me to keep quiet. I asked him to also examine my fingers and prove that I used them to strangle the deceased but he said such facility was not in available.’’
She said the police took her to the alleged scene of crime and conducted a search during which, the police officer received a call from Mrs. Kabba who instructed her to arrest her son, the 2nd accused. She said she knew that it was Mrs. Kabba because the phone was on speaker.
The trial continues today.
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