By Mohamed Foday Conteh
Justice Ivan Sesay has sentenced Foday Sannoh to 50 years imprisonment for murder.
The young man was sentenced on Thursday 16th December 2021 at the High Court in Freetown.
Sannoh was charged together with nine others on a three-count charge of conspiracy to commit a murder, murder and burying a human body in a place other than a cemetery.
According to the particulars of offence Sannoh and the nine other men were said to have conspired with other unknown persons to murder Mohamed Kallon alias Mende Boy on the 4th April 2020 at Baw-Baw Village, Western Area Rural District.
Four out of the 10 men, Gbessay Kamara, John Desmond Koroma, Mustapha Karim (Wizzy) and Abass Kamara (Cartel) were found guilty for burying the corpse of Kallon in a place other than a cemetery.
The trial concluded with the State Prosecutor, Jesse Tucker leading both formal and factual witnesses in evidence.
The first prosecution witness was Tamba Patrick Kambai, a police officer attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at Adonkia Police Station in Goderich.
The CID officer said in his testimony that he was on duty when asked by his superior to accompany his colleague officers to Baw-Baw Village. He said on arrival at the said village, they met the Headman of the village, Alex Issa Bangura and a certain Marcus Kamara alias Maco.
He said they later learnt that Kallon had been a victim of murder and thereby visited a corrugated iron structure that was owned by the deceased. Kambai said they met the premise damaged and other properties burnt.
The police officer said he also witnessed the autopsy examination by a pathologist and later received a memory stick which contained a WhatsApp voice note sent by the deceased from Issa Kamara on the 1st May 2020.
The village headman, Bangura, also a fish monger said he recognised all of the accused persons, except the first, Alpha Yayah Kanu. He said the second accused, Abdulai Barrie met him on the 4th April 2020 at 10 in the night,complaining that Kallon had hit him with a stone on his nose. He said by that time, Barrie was bleeding and so advised him to report the matter to the police.
The headman said he later learnt the following day that Kallon had been killed. He said while they were on their way to the scene, he saw droplets of blood along which led to Barrie and his wife.
He said he met Marcus on the way and that it was the man who told him that he had seen the fourth accused, Gbessay and others burying the corpse of Kallon while he was returning from setting his snare in the bush.
Marcus, when testifying as the fourth witness for the prosecution, told the judge he was returning from the bush after setting his snare when he saw Gbessay, Sesay, Karim and Kamara trying to bury the remains of Kallon.
He said he advised them to take the body to the village but the men refused and instead forced him to dig the grave. He added that after the men had buried Kallon in the bush, they threatened him not to relay the information to anyone but that he told Bangura when he caught up with him shortly.
Pathological findings of the corpse revealed that the 28-year-old Kallon died from a three-centimetre stab wound on his upper left chest that led to profuse bleeding and loss of blood.
Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma in his autopsy examination of the remains of Kallon concluded that the young man’s death was homicidal and neither accidental nor suicidal.
All 10 accused persons tend to rely on their voluntary caution statements (VCS) made to the police for their defence in court.
The second accused, Barrie admitted that Kallon hit him with a stone on his nose to which he went to the headman to report him. He said acting on the advice of the headman, he reported the matter to the police.
He admitted that he threatened to kill Kallon since he has beaten his wife.
The third accused, Sannoh made a confessional statement to the police -admitting that he was the one that stabbed Kallon and that it was the second accused who told them to take Kallon to the police.
He said the deceased refused to go and that he and the other accused started to beat Kallon.
The first accused, Kanu denied the allegations and told the police that he was at home when the entire incident occurred.
Also, both seventh and eight accused persons, Mohamed Daboh and Amadu Wurie also denied the allegations.
The 10-man jury took 40 minutes to process the evidence in court before returning with their verdict.
The foreman of the jurors returned a not guilty verdict on all three counts for the first, seventh and eighth accused persons.
The remaining seven accused were all found guilty on conspiracy to commit a murder and the fourth, fifth, ninth and tenth were also found guilty on the offence of burying a body in a place other a cemetery (count three).
Justice Sesay freed Kanu, Daboh and Wurie and sentenced Barrie and remaining six accused to ten years imprisonment for conspiracy to commit a murder.
The judge also placed a fine of six hundred thousand Leones (Le 600,000) on Gbessay, Koroma, Karim and Kamara for burying the corpse of Kallon in a place other than a cemetery.
The third accused, Sannoh was found guilty of murder and sentenced to fifty years imprisonment.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online 17/12/21
