By Hajaratu Kalokoh
Pupils of the Collegiate Secondary School have called on the government to ensure justice for the killing of their colleague. Mohamed Foday Sesay, 18 was reportedly stabbed to death by Sylvester Foday Bangura, 16 on the 4th October this year.
According to the autopsy report of the incident the stabbing led to excessive bleeding in the right lung, which eventually caused the death of the victim. Mohamed has been buried since last week
A teacher at the Collegiate Secondary School who prefers anonymity, told Politico that on Friday Mohamed was at school but after three hours she was informed by Mohamed’s aunt that he was dead following a stabbing by Sylvester.
The teacher said all what the school want is justice.
“We want justice for Mohamed Foday Sesay. This is what the boys have been crying for. It is very heartrending, painful and frustrating. The boys were saying if they don’t hear anything they will go to the Ministry, they will go to their Old Boys Association and inform them. The boys said if they were the perpetrators, everyone would have heard of the incident,” she said.
Mohamed Lamin Conteh, an SSS2 pupil at Collegiate, said it is important for government to set an example by imprisoning the perpetrator.
“We want the government to set example by sending the perpetrator to prison. When Mohammed introduced the perpetrator to us as a friend prior to the incident, he told us he was 16 years old. Now we are hearing that the boy is thirteen. We want him to face the consequences either way,” Conteh said.
Mohamed was leaving with his aunt until his untimely death. His aunt, Fatmata Foday explained to Politico that she has been the guardian of the deceased since he was a child.
According to his aunt, Mohamed normally visits his mother at Girls High School where she sells ‘foo-foo’. But she said Mohamed could not visit her on that day because the Police wrongfully arrested him following a riot between Collegiate and Technical Secondary School.
But the issue was later sorted out when eyewitnesses vouched that Mohamed wasn’t part of the riots.
She further explained, “Mohamed went to his grandpa’s place close to Ephraim Robinson Primary School at Congo Town, around the field. He sat down at the front of the Play Station Center discussing with other friends when the perpetrator stabbed him.”
Throughout the course of this investigation, Politico visited the Play Station Center at Congo Town, but it was closed. Neighbors around the area said the center has been closed since the incident.
Fatmata said there was a chance his nephew could have been saved, but that when they rushed to the Connaught Hospital there was only one doctor, who at the time was attending to another patient.
“Mohamed’s life could have been saved if there were Doctors at the hospital. We could not get any doctor to attend to Mohamed’s case. The hospital told us that the only doctor available was also attending another emergency case,” she said.
“I saw my boy struggling for his life when he was under oxygen. If this was overseas, when a patient is in critical condition, they would try to save his life before performing formalities,” Fatmata explained whiles crying.
The murder suspect, Sylvester was reportedly attending St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. The school’s authorities deny that. According to the Acting Principal of St Edwards Secondary School (Junior), Alimatu Massaquoi, the suspect had left the school since he sat to the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
“All we know is that after he took the BECCE he is no longer attending St. Edwards. He did not have our mark, so he had gone to another school,” she said.
Mrs Massaquoi could not tell Politico when Sylvester left the school.
She said; “I cannot tell the year he left because my previous boss has retired. People should ask him where he was until the day he committed the crime. We will not associate ourselves with somebody who has left. If he has left and he is doing good, we will be proud, but if you have left the school and then you are causing problem, then you want to associate yourself with the school, we cannot encourage that.”
Sylvester has since been arrested. But Mohamed’s aunt believes the Police have not been swift in prosecuting the case.
“I want to tell government that I am not pleased about the situation. According to law, the perpetrator should have been sent to CID and we are told after the incident that the perpetrator had threatened to kill Mohamed so it was deliberate,” she said.
Crime Officer, Congo Cross Division, Assistance Superintendent Alex Kalokoh, explained to Politico that they don’t normally charge cases of such nature without going through the necessary procedures.
“The problem we are having actually is to obtain statement from eyewitnesses, which is very difficult, unless we use our investigative skills to get them onboard. So sometimes when people say cases are being delayed at the Police Station and they have not been charged up to this moment, these are the constraints we are having,” he explained.
ASP Kalokoh however noted that the processing of the case is at an advance stage.
“As I speak, we have sent the file for professional advice to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Whatever thing that is advised we are going to go strictly by it based on the evidence we have gathered, because it is the DPP who has the mandate to look at that file and give us advice on charging the suspect to court,” he said.
As the case drags on, pupils at Collegiate School have threatened to protest on behalf of their fallen colleague if the necessary actions are not taken.
Violence among secondary schools in Freetown is common. The latest situation has the potential of igniting a serious riot between Collegiate and Saint Edwards.
© 2019 Politico Online
