By Francis H Murray
A 15-year old pupil who is alleged to have been sexually penetrated multiple times by the leader of the National Democratic Alliance Party Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray testified last Friday before Justice Samuel O. Taylor at the sexual offenses division of the High Court in Freetown.
The witness described herself as a JSS 3 pupil and recognized the accused persons, identifying the second accused, Marion Harouni as her aunt whom she used to stay with in Kono.
She said she ended up staying with her aunt after she had expressed interest in helping with her school expenses on condition that she should move over to stay with her and be helping with some domestic work. The witness said the 2nd accused communicated her intensions to her parents who had been given a quit notice by their landlord and they agreed to let her move in with her aunt and continue with her education.
She recalled that on the 14 February 2020, the 1st accused (Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray) met her and said he would like to go out with her on a date as it was Valentine's Day. She said the 2nd accused went into her room and looked for decent clothing, dressed her up and did her hair.
The witnessed continued: ‘‘the 1st accused came and picked me up in his green vehicle and took me to a place called Diamond Lodge Hotel and it was my first time visiting there. So we entered the gates of the compound and waited for a while in his car while he made calls to a certain lady I don't know to bring the key. When the key was brought, he opened the room and we entered.
"I sat in the parlor and he called me to go into the room and I told him I would wait for him in the parlor until he was done with whatever he was doing and take me back home. So he came out of the room having removed his shirt and held my hand and forcefully took me inside the room. He removed my clothes including my pants and laid me on the bed, removed his trousers and lay on top of me and inserted his penis into my vagina and began to have sex with me.
"I cried during the process because it was painful. So he got up after a while and went to the bathroom to urinate. When I got up I saw blood on the bed sheet. So he came out of the bathroom and I went in to clean myself up and by the time I returned to the room, the blood-stained bedsheet was no longer there.’’
She said that at that point she put on her clothes and Kmarainba also did the same and he drove her back to her aunt’s place.
The witness said that two weeks later, Kamarainba called her aunt (the 2nd accused) to ask her how she (the witness) was doing and that he needed to meet with her again. She said her aunt asked her to dress up as Kamarinba wanted to take her out again. And she complied.
The 15-year-old added that Kamarainba came in the same vehicle and took her to the same hotel but this time to a different room, and had sex with her. She added that at another time in March, Kamarainba asked her aunt to allow her (the witness) visit him at his unfinished building. ‘‘So when I got there, he lifted my clothes and removed my pants and instructed me to bend down and hold my knees. He unzipped his trousers, inserted his penis into my vagina and had sex with me.’’ She said he then drove her in his car and dropped her home.
The witness told the court that she went to school on a certain Monday and learnt that she had lost her grandfather upon which the 2nd accused came to her school to ask for permission for her to be part of the funeral in Freetown. She said her teacher cautioned the 2nd accused that she (the witness) was an examination candidate and needed to concentrate on her work, adding that the 2nd accused informed Kamarainba about the funeral and he later came to sympathize with them and gave them money for transport fare to Freetown.
The witness said they left for Freetown on the following day and it took about two weeks before they returned to Kono where Kamarainba visited them and gave her Le 80, 000 and told them he was traveling to Freetown to buy some building materials to complete his building project.
According to her, upon the instructions of her aunt, she called Kamarainba to inform him that there wasn't effective schooling and that he should send transport fare for her to travel to Freetown but he refused and asked her to use the money he had given her the other day to pay her way while the 2nd accused would provide transport for herself and her children.
She said Kamarainba visited their residence in Freetown and later drove them to the mother of the 2nd accused who was sick at Murray Town, noting that on their way home, the 2nd accused dropped along the road with her children and instructed that she (the witness) should remain in the car, following which she was taken to the house of Kamarainba where he sexually penetrated her in the evening and morning before driving her to Youyi Building for her aunt to pick her up.
According to the witness, on that same night, Kamarainba prepared them food which they ate and he gave her a mobile phone he had brought for her which she presented to the aunt who didn't appreciate the type of phone.
She said after examining the phone, her aunt called her names and said she had not prioritized her education but instead had been sleeping with men, adding that she (witness) felt very bad about that.
The witness told the court that two days later, they returned to Kono and her aunt took the phone from her and used it until its screen got damaged before she returned it and that the uncle-in-law (husband of the 2nd accused) took the phone on the pretext of repairing it but that till date she had not set her eyes on it.
The witness said that while in Kono, her aunt prepared food and asked her to take it to her (the witness') father which she did and delayed her return home because she was waiting on her father who was not at the house when she got there. She added that she asked her father to take her home that night for fear of the reaction of the 2nd accused over her delayed return.
According to her when she arrived home, she found scattered around her room things Kamarainba had given to her Le 300, 000 to buy. She said she began to pack them, but that the 2nd accused called her (witness') father and told him that she had misbehaved, and that she was no longer allowed to stay with them. She added that the following day, her mother came to the house and took her home.
The 15-year-old said that she was playing with her father one day when he mistakenly touched the area on her left hand where she had an contraceptive implant which her father inquired about, but that she refused to tell what it was.She said she was later referred to her aunt (her father's sister) for discussion. She continued: ‘‘I explained everything to her and we went to the Tankoro police station and were referred to the Rainbo Center where I was interviewed and examined.’’ She said she returned the paper given to them to the police station where statement was obtained from her.
The witness said she never refused to go with Kamarainba anywhere because her aunt was the one asking her to comply. Asked about the contraceptive implant, the witness said while she prepared to go to school one day, her aunt instructed her to pass by the Kono Government Hospital to meet a nurse by the name of Mary who inserted the implant in her hand but did not tell her what it was meant for.
She said the 2nd accused instructed her that if her husband asked about the implant she should say she was injured by her schoolmate during play and she did exactly as instructed when the husband questioned her about it.
The matter continues today.
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