By Saio Marrah
In the ongoing Court Martial set up to try 27 military personnel for their roles in the attempted coup of November 26, 2024, Lance Corporal Kargbo and Sergeant Lansana Mansaray have narrated how, according to them, they narrowly escaped alive.
Corporal Turay, a Military Police now attached to the 15 infantry battalion, Lungi told the court martial on Wednesday 31st January 2024, that on Saturday 25th November, he slept over at the Military Police office at Wilberforce Barracks because it was late for him to return to his unit in Lungi.
He said in the early hours of that day, he overheard one female military personnel screaming loudly saying that soldiers had seized her weapon and called for the intervention of military police. “As I ran towards that end, I saw a group of men, one of them armed with A.K 47. He immediately pointed his rifle on us,” adding that the guards on duty also came out, but they had to take cover.
The witness said he saw a vehicle parked in front of the armory and a man climbed down from the vehicle with an object and soon they started hitting the door of the armory. He told the court how he managed to jump over the fence to the main street at Bottom Mango where he found police at a checkpoint with weapons. According to him, he begged them to join in repelling the assailants trying to break the armory, but they gave him deaf ears.
Kargbo said he then advanced towards the 5 battalion where he met military guards and told them about the occurrence, and that he accompanied Sergeant Mansaray, another witness in this case to the scene.
He said as soon as they entered the main gate leading to the armory, an unknown person grabbed him and a scuffle ensued for a while before he managed to seize a weapon which the unknown person had in hand. Kargbo said he sustained a bullet wound on his leg from a gunshot by his colleague, Sergeant Mansaray, who shot the assailant he was wrestling with.
The other prosecution witness, Sergeant Mansaray, told the court martial that he was the audit Sergeant at the 5 infantry battalion in charge of supporting the administration of the battalion.
He said as usual, and on the night of the 25th November, the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 5 infantry battalion, Lieutenant Colonel James Mishek Yamba who is the 17th accused, addressed them, telling them to be vigilant and be alert after which, he said together with the other officers of the battalion, they embarked on routine check on all the guards at the different checkpoints, dispatching the CO’s message to the guards be alert. After the completion of the routine check on the guards, Sergeant Mansaray informed the court about how a particular guard met them saying someone disarmed him.
He also narrated what the other witness, Lance Corporal Kargbo told him, and that they proceeded to the armory. During the scuffle between Kargbo and the unknown man, he said had to shoot at the unknown man before facing a large group of men, who confronted him from the armory with gunshots.
According to him, while he was about to advance, those he referred to as enemies threw a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) towards the wall he was hiding, but he managed to escape the scene.
There are 88 count charges levied against the 27 military personnel who were among those arrested after attacks on the Wilberforce Military Barracks Armory in Freetown, the Murray Town Barracks, Cockeril Military Headquarters and several police stations, on Sunday 26 the November, 2023.
Copyright (c) 2024 (Politico 02/02/24)
