By Francis H. Murray
The trial of Mariama Sarjoh Barrie and Ibrahim Bah for the alleged murder of five-year old Kadija Saccoh has continued at the High Court in Freetown before Justice John Bosco Allieu and a twelve-member jury.
Led in evidence by lawyer Joseph A. K Sesay, the 6th prosecution witness Detective Inspector of Police Brima Amara Munu now attached to CID headquarters in Freetown and previously of the homicide syndicate, recognized both accused persons and recalled that he was on duty on the 21st June 2020 at the homicide syndicate, when they received a transferred case and inquiry file from the Lumley police station for the offence of conspiracy to commit murder.
He said the file contained witness statements, contemporaneous interviews of the accused persons, a medical certificate of the cause of death issued by pathologist Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma, together with four suspects including the accused persons, for the continuation of investigations.
The witness said that upon receipt of the file, they further obtained statements from other relevant witnesses including a contemporaneous interview of the 2nd accused.
He told the court that on the 22nd of June, he and other officers interviewed the 1st accused and did the same on the following day with the 3rd suspect.
Detective Inspector Munu told the court that in the month of July 2020, several statements were obtained from the accused persons and both were then charged with the offense of conspiracy to commit murder and murder on the 27 July 2020.
The witness said during the course of the investigation, a written request was made to the cyber unit of the CID for the call history of the accused persons for the period spanning 1st June to 15 July 2020 and that they also received a press release from the management of the Choithram’s Hospital and statements were obtained from their personnel as well as those from an Iranian hospital.
Under cross-examination by Lawyer Alhaji M Kamara on behalf of the 1st accused, the witness said he was not the sole investigator of the matter but he headed the investigating team at the CID. He stressed that according to their statements, they documented that the deceased died on the 25th June 2020 but the evidence suggests that she died on the 17th June 2020.
He said the accused persons had since been in police custody and had never been admitted to bail, adding that according to Dr. Owizz Koroma, the government pathologist, the deceased died as a result of manual strangulation.
The witness said according to the Iranian doctor, the deceased had no sign of life at the time she was brought to them and he instead referred them to Connaught Hospital and noted that he had never seen the autopsy report which he said never suggested who was responsible for the manual strangulation.
Also, the seventh prosecution witness, Detective Police Constable 588 Alpha Sesay, told the court that he's attached to the cyber unit of the CID headquarters in Freetown.
He said he's a cyber-crime investigator and digital forensic expert and that some of his duties include collecting, identifying, and presenting digital evidence for court proceedings and also analyse calls log received from GSM companies that have nexus to people under investigation.
He recalled that he was on duty on the 21st of June 2020, when he received a request from Inspector B.A Munu who was head of the homicide unit then, with the said request accompanied by two mobile phones belonging to the accused.
He said they were asked to critically examine the phones to determine whether they had any pictures or videos that were romantic in nature.
"Upon receipt of the request, we examined the mobile phones and discovered that the phone which belonged to the 2nd accused had a series of videos in some of which he was together with the deceased". He added that one of the videos had an inscription "having fun with Dijarex" while in another, the 2nd accused can be seen kissing the deceased.
The witness went on to explain that the wallpaper of the small phone had a photo in which the deceased and the 2nd accused posed together, adding that they screenshot the photos and videos and later transferred them to a memory flash drive.
He said they also checked the mobile phone of the 1st accused which had a video and that at the end of their analysis; they transformed their findings to a report which was handed over to the homicide unit. The bail application for and on behalf of the accused persons was denied and the matter adjourned to Monday 15th February 2021.
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