By Abass Jalloh
Magistrate Mark Ngegba of Pademba Road Court No. 1 in Freetown has remanded four bike riders - Joseph Conteh, Lamin Yusif Moigua, Saidu Kalokoh, John Laggawo - and a student, Bashiru Daniel Sesay, who were charged with Conspiracy to Commit a Felony, Robbery with Violence, Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm, Wounding, and Wounding with Intent.
According to court records, the first accused, Conteh, on the 10th October 2022 at Hill Cut Road in Freetown conspired together and with other persons unknown to commit a felony , and that he also robbed Philip Abass Kamara of his iPhone 13 promax valued two thousand eight hundred and fifty Euros equivalent to forty-nine thousand Leones (NLe 49,000) immediately before and after such robbery, and used personal violence on Kamara and assaulted him in a manner thereby occasioning actual bodily harm.
The prosecution also alleged that on the same date and place, Moigua, Kalokoh, Lagawo, and Sesay maliciously wounded Mustapha Mansaray with intent to do him grievous bodily harm and also assaulted him in a manner thereby occasioning him actual bodily harm.
Mansaray, a driver who lives at Cox Street, Kissy, Freetown, is a victim and second prosecuting witness. He told the court that he recognized the five accused in the dock.
He recalled on the stated date when he was at Aberdeen and his boss, Kamara, called him to meet him at Hill Cut. He said upon arrival, the second accused and another hit him with a “construction helmet and a pint” on his head that saw blood oozing. He said they told him he should not go over to where his boss was.
Mansaray said he later received a medical paper and went to the Connaught Hospital where he was given seven stitches. He later took the medical report to the CID.
Under cross-examination, Mansaray said he was at Aberdeen before the incident.
He told the court that he only came to know the first accused at the Hill Cut scene of the attack.
Making a self- representation, the third accused put it to the witness that his boss earlier testified in court that over 200 bike riders were at the scene but the witness stated that he only knew the accused persons.
The second accused also stated that he was not at the scene when the witness was wounded. However, the witness said the accused was there together with the others when he was hit with the construction helmet and a pint.
Representing the fifth accused, Lawyer Musa Bayraytay put it to the witness that he (the witness) and his boss did not come at Hill Cut at the same time. The witness stated that he alone came.
The witness said at the time of the incident, they arrested the accused persons at Hill Cut and took them to the OSD headquarters.
The matter comes up again tomorrow November 17.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (16/11/22)
