By Mohamed Foday Conteh
Justice Alhaji Momoh-Jah Stevens has sentenced Mohamed Conteh, 65, to eight years imprisonment for sexually abusing his then 17-year-old daughter multiple times between 2017 and 2020.
Conteh made his final appearance at the Sexual Offences Model Court in Freetown on the 29th November this year to answer to two counts of incest contrary to the Sexual Offences Act of 2012, as amended.
The State Prosecutor, Musa Pious Sesay Jr. led in two witnesses in evidence. The 17-year-old was the first prosecution witness in the matter.The victim said that her father,in 2017 in Freetown, started approaching her at night for sexual intercourse.
The victim further told the judge that her father repeated the act to the extent that she has to run away from home to an aunt who failed to remedy the situation and eventually found her way back to her father’s house.
The victim’s evidence also said that the dad later took her to Lungi to a certain Pa Lamina for traditional healing after the father referred to her as a witch. She said that it was at Lungi where his father took her to Orsu Hotel and first penetrated her.
She said that her father later returned her to Freetown but then took her to Kambia for healing over the alleged witchcraft spell again but abandoned her there for seven months.
She said her dad later returned to Kambia and took her to Flamengo Guest House where he had sex with her at weekends and during holidays. She added that in August 2020, her father invited her to live with him in the same guesthouse and ended up spending seven months there.
The 17-year-old daughter said she became ill and was taken by the accused to Kambia Government Hospital where it was confirmed that she was five months pregnant. She said her father also neglected her while at the hospital.
She said upon her return to the guesthouse, the accused gave her a traditional concoction to drink but refused which resulted in her being physical assaulted by the accused that led to her miscarriage.
The second prosecution witness, Detective Alhassan Teddy Turay attached to the Family Support Unit (FSU) at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters in Freetown tendered a medical report in court which has been in his custody since the start of the investigation. The said report indicates that the victim was pregnant for 24 weeks but that the ‘fetus had died’.
The father denied the allegation against him in his Voluntary Caution Statements (VCS) made to the police in Kambia and Freetown and also went forward to state during his testimony in court that the victim was not his ‘biological daughter’.
The elder sister to the victim and daughter to the dad testified in defence of her father in court. The elder sister, being led in evidence by defence lawyer, Claudius Campbell, told the judge that the victim is her ‘adopted sister’. She added that she has once told her that she has intention to kill their dad or cause him to run mad.
She denied her father having any sexual intercourse with the victim and stated that the victim had been staying with them since she was five months old.
The judge said that although the father had denied the victim being her biological daughter, the evidence proves that there is father-daughter relationship since the victim had been staying under the care of the father since she was five months old.
Justice Stevens, from the evidence in court, found out that the father had ‘brutally assaulted the victim and had sexual intercourse with her severally’.
“When the victim became pregnant, the accused wanted to destroy evidence that was why he first wanted to administer a traditional herb to the victim,” the Judge said.
He added that the father had cause to beat the victim severely and almost into coma when she refused to drink the mixture and only gained consciousness when she was taken to the Kambia Government Hospital.
The Court of Appeal Judge affirmed that he finds the actions of the dad to be ‘sinful, disdainful and unorthodox’.
The dad after being found guilty of the offence in court had nothing to say to the judge in his allocutus.
Judge Stevens handed an eight-year sentence each for counts one and two.
He ordered that both sentences run concurrently and added that he believes that the father must face the maximum custodial sentence and also ruled that he must pay a compensation of 30 Million Leones to the victim because of the bodily harm she went through during pregnancy.
Justice Stevens ordered that the dad must pay undertake the compensatory payment to the victim after serving his jail term.
Copyright © Politico Online 01/12/21
