By Francis H. Murray
Paramount Chief Koblo Queen II of Marampa Chiefdom, Portloko District in the northwest province of Sierra Leone, continued his testimony on Monday before Magistrate Hannah Bonnie in Freetown in the ongoing preliminary investigations into a 14 count charge of murder, arson, malicious damage arising from recent rioting in the town of Lunsar.
Paramount Chief Koblo Queen told the court that the violent attack on his home and other places in the town was preceded by social media posts preempting the attack. He noted that he was home on the 30th of April 2020 when he received a call from his Chiefdom Speaker informing him that a group of irate boys were on their way to attack his house. He said when the group got to his gate they pelted stones into his compound before some among them climbed over the fence and opened the gate for the others to enter his compound.
He said the boys destroyed the gate and killed his nephew, Alie Kabia, whom they found in the compound at the height of the attack and went on to set fire to a number of vehicles which were parked in his compound.
The Paramount Chief told the court that about five minutes before the attackers entered his compound to destroy his properties, he climbed over his fence and fled with his children to the compound of one Mama Koroma, his immediate neighbor, from where he watched the looting before he was rescued.
He said his home was under attack for about four hours before a team of soldiers from the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) “rescued me from the home of my neighbor while the mutilated body of my nephew was discovered in the vicinity.”
The Paramount Chief said he was taken away in the vehicle of the Senior District Officer in Portloko for his safety and was later moved to Freetown, where he has been undergoing medical treatment at the Connaught Hospital for the injury he sustained in one of his ears as he jumped over his fence while fleeing from the boys who attacked his compound.
In his cross examination of the witness, Lawyer M. Jengo, representing the 4th and the 9th accused persons, told the witness that he wasn’t truthful to the court, but the witness replied saying that he was truthful to the court and that his statements to the police and his evidence before the court were the same.
Lawyer for the 4th, 12th, and 13th accused persons, Ibrahim Macfoy, asked the witness whether he was able to identify over 500 youths from his place of hiding. In reply, the witness said he was only able to identify the ring leaders.
Lawyer I. Dumbuya, representing the 14th accused, put it to the witness that he wasn’t on good terms with his client because he supported another candidate instead of him (Koblo Queen) during the Paramount Chieftaincy election in 2002 that brought the witness to power. The witness agreed that he and the 14th accused were not at their best because of the election but that he still liked him as his subject.
When lawyer Dumbuya told the witness that he (the witness) called the 14th accused who was at his place of work at SL Mining for help during the incident, the witness denied making any such call.
During further cross examination by lawyer I. Bangura, who is representing the rest of the 31 accused persons, the witness told the court that he saw all the accused persons who were the ring leaders on the day of the attack, five minutes before he escaped the scene.
The prosecution alleges that Mohamed Kanu and 30 others on diverse dates at Lunsar town, in Portloko District, conspired with others to commit grievous bodily harm, murdered Alie Kabia and maliciously damaged properties worth over Le11 billion belonging to Paramount Chief Koblo Queen II.
Lawyer Adrian J. Fisher is prosecuting. The matter is adjourned to the 14th July 2020.
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