By Francis H. Murray
Justice Ansumana Ivan Sesay of the High court in Freetown has sentenced 23 year-old Mohamed Deen to 12 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of sexually penetrating a girl child under the age of 18.
Delivering his judgement on Wednesday 19th August 2020, Justice Sesay said that he had found the accused guilty as charged because of corroboration in the testimony of the victim with that of the 1st prosecution witness Dr. Olabisi Claudius Cole, head of the Rainbo Center.
The 13 year victim had confirmed being in a love relation with the accused and upon a visit to him, he instructed her to remove her dress which she did and the accused had sex with her several times.
According to Dr. Cole, she had cause to diagnose the victim and discovered that her hymen was completely ruptured; adding that white semen was discovered in the victim’s vagina.
In her plea mitigation, lawyer Cecelia Tucker of the Legal Aid Board asked the judge to temper justice with mercy considering the fact that the accused had three children whose mother was deceased and are left with no one to adequately watch over them.
State prosecutor J.S Tucker drew the attention of the judge to the law as it relates to aggravating circumstances before passing sentence on the accused.
The judge noted that the accused has not learnt anything from his wrongdoing and that he had jumped bail at some points during the trial and it took time and resources to apprehend.
The prosecution had alleged that the accused person on diverse dates between the 1st June 2017 and 30th August 2017, in the Western Area of Freetown, sexually penetrated a girl under 18.
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
