By Mohamed Foday Conteh
Corroborating the evidence produced by Detective Sergeant 11234 Charles Conteh, the Exhibit Clerk at Congo Cross Police Station, Constable 15221 Alimamy Morlai Turay has tendered pills alleged to have been bought by accused person, Jacob Musa for his alleged 17-year-old girlfriend.
Musa, who is standing trial for sexual penetration of the minor sometime in late 2020, denied the allegations.
New evidence against the accused was presented in court on Monday 10th January after the police exhibit clerk tendered some pills, a black mobile phone with three Sim-cards and a memory card at the Sexual Offences Model Court in Freetown.
Officer Turay told the presiding judge, Justice Momoh-Jah Stevens that it was on the 3rd March last year that a Police Detective Sergeant Conteh, who was investigating the matter and acting as the Scene of Crime Officer (SOCO), handed over the items to him.
He affirmed in court that all of the said items had been in his custody and tendered them in court to form part of its records.
Earlier, Detective Sergeant Conteh testified as the third prosecution witness, and told the judge that they became aware of the matter when a cousin of the teenage girl, a certain Oya Bailor reported the accused for the alleged offence of meeting a child for sexual purposes.
He said the cousin later returned with the teenage girl and informed them that nurses at the One Stop Centre at Kingharman Road told her that the girl had been sexually penetrated.
The Detective Sergeant told the court that he investigated both the offence of meeting a child for sexual purposes and sexual penetration and that he obtained a Voluntary Caution Statement (VCS) from Musa on 13th January and later on the 2nd and 3rd February 2021 for both offences.
He said that it was Bailor who brought a black mobile phone and some pills and claimed the accused bought them for her cousin and then handed them to the exhibit clerk at the police station.
The defence lawyer, Cyril Taylor-Young was more concerned about the age of the alleged victim.
The Detective, in cross-examination, said that they did not investigate the originality of the birth certificate presented to them for the girl.
Justice Stevens adjourned the matter for tomorrow, 12th January 2022 with the State Lawyer, Musa Pious Sesay Jr. set to close his case.
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