By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
The officer commanding Anti-Robbery Unit for Freetown West has said that no arrests have been made after armed robbers attacked Joshua Nicol, Manager of Cotton Tree News and current affairs output of Radio Mount Aureol.
Detective Assistant Superintendent James Tarawallie confirmed that the robbers on Wednesday 29 October attacked the home on Regent Road, Wilberforce, of the journalist and lecturer and fired two shots before they escaped. He disclosed that theyobtained a statement from Mr. Nicol, adding that when the assailants were found they would be charged for robbery with aggravation, wounding with intent and others.
Speaking to Politico at his residence Mr. Nicol, who was discharged later that day after treatment at the Emergency Hospital, Goderich, said three armed men cut through the metal bars of one of his windows and entered his bedroom.
The broadcast media professor said he confronted them to defend his family and property but was stabbed on his shoulder by one of the robbers who also had a bayonet.
“When I continued resisting, they fired two shots which narrowly missed me as you can clearly see the bullet marks and the blood stains on the wall”, he explained, adding that the robbers made away with a generator, plasma TV, DVD players, mobile phones, cash and other personal effects before officers from the Congo Cross police station arrived at the scene.
Neighbours who were assembled in small groups outside the house yesterday expressed “disgust with the inability of the police to decisively deal with armed robbery gang raiding homes in Freetown these days”. A middle-aged woman said:“I heard the gunshots but I was too afraid to come out of the house to see what was happening”. The mother of three wondered “how the robbers managed to lay hands on the arms and ammunition they used in the robbery...IG Munu must do something fast because we are so scared we could be next”.
Politico learnt that police took away the bullet shells and a mobile phone the robbers dropped as they fled.
Freetown is in the grip of a spate of armed robberies with the former Minister of Health, Dr Soccoh Kabia, the former State House Chief of Staff, Dr Richard Konteh, and two FBC lecturers being recent victims.
Local Unit Commander, Chief Superintendent Thomas Mustapha Lahai, said such crimes were rare in his area of responsibility but promised he would work hard to arrest the robbers.
© Politico 30/10/14
