By Abass Jalloh
Alfred Fornah and 20 others all from Makeni in the north of Sierra Leone were on Wednesday 12th October arraigned at the Pademba Road Court No.1 in Freetown charged with various public order offences allegedly committed during the anti-government protests that took place on August 10, 2022.
The Prosecution led by Lawyer Yusuf Isaac Sesay presented three of the five witnesses three of whom made their way to the dock - the Exhibit Clerk, Detective Sergeant Issa Kamara (PW2) from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Freetown, Inspector of Police Ibrahim Kabba Conteh (PW3) and Joseph Tamba Koroma (PW4) from the Rogbaneh Police Station in Makeni.
During his testimony, the PW2 stated that being responsible for receiving exhibits and tendering them in court, he recalled on the 13th of August 2022 when Sergeant Samai at the CID handed over to him four placards (pink, yellow, and white) with wordings ‘PPP Bio must go, no police brutality, ‘Handing over, taking over, tribalism on the increase Maada must go’, ‘Free Salone, Bio must go, PPP’, and “Maada must go, we want our country back, ‘we need food- transportation is killing us.
He said such placards were registered as RCD 114 2022 and that they were in police custody before they were brought before the court. The placards were then tendered to form part of the court records.
Under cross-examination by Lawyer Charlie Israel Williams, the witness said the placards were in respect of all the 21 accused and were not specifically attached to a particular suspect.
Lawyer Abdul Aziz Bah, representing the 20th accused, Yusif Kalokoh, asked PW2 if the handing over of the placards was accompanied by any other officer, but he said they were not accompanied by “any other police officer”.
PW3 in his testimony told the court that part of his responsibilities is to receive distress calls, recalling the 10th August 2022 while at the Rogbaneh Police Station as Operations Officer, his boss, Assistant Superintendent of Police Matthew Banya, called him to that he had been receiving distress calls and was instructed to go with other officers.
He said they headed for a place called Campbell Street, Makeni and on arrival, met a large number of people shouting, and chanting alongside roadblocks with some having the stated placards in their hands.
ASP Banya advised them to refrain from the said process, but they did not listen, according to the witness. He said the commander instructed that they initiate an arrest. “I personally arrested accused 8 and 10. They moved them and others to the police station,” he revealed.
He said at a place called Banga Store in Makeni, they also arrested another “six protesters” and took them to the Rogbaneh Police station.
The witness said at Lunsar Road, they executed more arrests that included the 19th accused that was found naked, together with more women.
Another four suspects were arrested and taken to the same police station, the witness told the court.
According to the witness, a majority of the protesters were having placards but they only managed to get four of the placards - one from Station Road, another from Lunsar Road, and two from Campbell Street, adding that they were handed to the Rogbaneh police station for further investigation.
Under cross-examination by Lawyer Williams, the PW3 was asked when they started making the arrests, and he replied that they did 10 minutes after they were notified and that the last person was arrested at around 11 in the morning.
He was asked if the 15th and 17th accused were arrested at their houses, but the witness stated that they were only arrested at Campbell Street.
He was asked whether they fired tear gas during the incident but said they didn’t.
The prosecution will bring the remaining two witnesses when the matter continues on Wednesday 19th October 2022.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (14/10/22)
