By Abass Jalloh
High Court Judge, Adrian Fisher, of High Court No. 1 in Freetown is expected to look at the bail application of Sierra Leonean Musician, Alhaji Amadu Bah aka LAJ, after perusing his medical report presented to the court on Friday October 14.
Defence lawyer, Madieu Sesay had requested that Justice Fisher considers “especially the medical report” served by a medical director. Relying on section 23(4), Lawyer Sesay said the accused is still innocent. “There is no report for him with regards to bad behaviour,” he said.
Sesay added that his client has been in custody for four months, assuring that granting him bail will not bring the matter to an end.
In objecting the bail application, prosecution lawyer, Yusuf Isaac Sesay, read and presented an affidavit of Ishmael Kamara (victim and witness) which talks of protection of victims, witnesses and the general public because it is the basis of deciding whether or not to oppose bail by the prosecutor.
He revealed that Kamara, since the matter came up for trial has been receiving calls from people on behalf of the relatives of LAJ and spoke of how the accused’s father and one man named Junior are in police custody, after they were “caught red-handed on the act, trying to give money to this deponent today at the filling station at Wilberforce for him not to come to court and run away”.
He said: These are facts we can prove with video and pictorial evidence.”
The prosecutor said: “This witness, with audio messages and recordings, has got threats after initial promises of job and money, to a point that we have to call in the Witness Protection Unit of the SLP [Sierra Leone Police] to intervene, and the other witnesses are undercover now,” he claimed.
Following these applications, Justice Fisher stated that: “I need to look at the affidavit and consider whether in fact I believe it. Secondly, I need to look at whether this affidavit in the light of the medical report should take precedent over the affidavit.”
Earlier at a previous hearing, prosecutor Sesay made an application for an amendment of the indictment seeking an addition of one count of Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm by removing “personal violence”charge.
Additionally, the prosecutor made an application for trial by Judge alone, stating that it is an order that LAJ would now stand on robbery charge as well. However, the trial by judge alone was refused by Justice Fisher.
LAJ is before the court for four counts charges ranging from Robbery contrary to section 23(2) of the Larceny Act of 1916 as repealed and replaced by section 2 of the Imperial Statutes Criminal Law Adoption Amendment Act No. 16 of 1971 and Inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm contrary to section 20 of the Offences against the Persons Act of 1861.
Count one stated that the accused, LAJ, on the 12th June 2022 in Freetown robbed Francess Wilson the sum of OLe 2,090,000 (two million and ninety thousand Leones).
Count two says he on the same date and at the same place robbed Ishmael Kamara the sum of NLe 4,200,000 (four million two hundred thousand Leones).
On count three, the accused on the same date and at the same place robbed Christiana Koroma of one Tecno mobile phone valued NLe 1,600,000 (one million six hundred thousand Leones).
According to count four, he on the same date and at the same place maliciously inflicted grievous bodily harm on Musa Mansaray.
LAJ, who is yet to be granted bail since he was arrested in June this year, pleaded not guilty to all the charges levied against him.
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