By Francis H. Murray
Justice Monfred Sesay of the High Court in Freetown has sentenced 45-year-old property caretaker, Alhaji Alpha Bangura, to ten years in prison following his conviction on one count indictment of wounding with intent.
In his judgment on Tuesday 16 March 2021, Justice Sesay told the court that it was the duty of the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt in view of the offences for which the accused was charged.
He noted that the prosecution must be able to establish by way of evidence that the victim was indeed wounded by the voluntary action of the accused and that he did so with intent.
He further stated that the prosecutor, Joseph A. K. Sesay, led in evidence a number of witnesses during the course of the trial, including the victim and a medical doctor. The accused, in his statement to the police, admitted that he accidentally wounded the complainant, Dankay Mansaray, during a confrontation they had on a certain day.
However, in his evidence in chief, he denied committing the offence, saying that the complainant had grabbed a palm frond he held in his hands during their altercation, and which had accidentally pierced and wounded her.
The complainant, Dankay Mansaray, on the other hand had told the court that on 19 January 2020, when she returned from church, she met the accused trimming palm trees in his compound and dropping the fronds in the gutter which served as a boundary between their compounds.
She said she later sent his son, Mohamed, to buy her bread and as he was leaving, the accused warned him not to pass through his compound again and that if he did, he would cut him into pieces to make pepper soup. She added that as the confrontation got serious between them, the accused walked towards her carrying a machete and attempted to strike her foot, but she jumped away but still ended with a cut on her right index finger.
The prosecution had alleged that the accused on 19 January 2020, in the Western Area of Freetown, wounded Dankay Mansaray with intent to maim her.
Justice Sesay concluded that upon review of the evidence before the court, he was satisfied that the prosecution had proven all the elements of the offence charged, including the fact that the victim was wounded by the accused which led to the deformity of the finger that was hit. He concluded that because the accused was not a child, he had acted with intent.
He stated that shortly before he was sentenced, the convict admitted to committing the offence of wounding the complainant and pleaded for mercy, saying that he had suffered during his over one year stay at the Correctional Services, especially during the attempted prison break in April 2020.
In his response, Justice Sesay said that the convict didn’t deserve any form of mercy from the court because he had not shown any remorse during the course of the trial and had not pleaded guilty at the time of his arraignment for which he had wasted the time of the court.
His jail term includes the time spent in prison.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (17/03/21)
