By Aminata Phidelia Allie
A man, in his twenties, has been slammed a 48-month imprisonment for stealing electrical cables valued at Le12 million, property of Guoji Construction and Investment Company, a Chinese manufacturing company operating in Sierra Leone.
Standing before Seray-Wurie of the Pademba Road Magistrates’ Court No.2 for the fifth time, Mohamed Macauley, who had pleaded not guilty to a 2-count charge of larceny and unlawful possession of offensive weapon, begged that he be forgiven after he realised that he had been convicted by the court.
The magistrate, before handing down the sentence, observed that though the convict denied the charges in court, it was worthy to note that he had not denied them in his statement to the police.
He said Macauley, in his police statement, had confessed that he was indeed caught last month stealing the electrical cables from an uncompleted building at Wilberforce.
The accused, according to prosecution, was also caught with a silver knife and a pair of pliers on the scene.
The magistrate said he would not condone the conduct of the accused, adding that such a conduct was punishable. He sentenced the convict to 48 months in prison at the country’s main correctional center on Pademba Road.
In a related matter, a certain Hassan Samura, who was before the court on 2 counts of conspiracy and larceny, was acquitted and discharged on one of the counts. According to the magistrate, the prosecution failed to “adduce sufficient evidence against the accused to warrant the committal of the matter to the High Court for proper trial, especially in respect to the conspiracy count”.
With regards to count 2, larceny, he ordered that the charge be put to the accused again so that he could plead guilty or not guilty. The accused pleaded not guilty to the count, particulars of which were that he stole a coca-cola crate which had 8 empty bottles in it.
Magistrate Seray-Wurie adjourned the matter to Wednesday, 12 November, so as to enable the accused get a legal representation “because you can’t speak for yourself”. The accused was remanded until the adjourned date.
© Politico 07/11/14
