By Francis H. Murray
Justice Augustine Musa of the High Court in Freetown has acquitted and discharged the former mayor of Freetown Herbert George Williams and the Public Relations Officer of the main opposition All Peoples Congress Party Abubakarr Daramy of a two-count indictment of murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
An eleven-member jury unanimously returned a not-guilty verdict on Thursday 11th March 2021 in respect of both counts for the alleged murder of journalist Ibrahim Samura.
In directing the jury, Justice Musa stated that it was the duty of the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt by way of evidence in proving all the elements of the offences charged as well as to link the accused persons “materially” to the offences.
Citing the unsworn statement of the 2nd prosecution witness Mahmoud Tim Kargbo, the judge noted that there were “material inconsistencies” in the said statement and his testimony in court on oath which he said casts a “dim shadow” on the credibility of the witness.
He noted that the testimony of the 2nd and 3rd prosecution witnesses failed to link any of the accused persons with the offence of murder and therefore urged the jury not to disbelieve the sworn evidence of Kargbo in court and to attach much weight to it.
He stressed that even though a letter of apology written to the deceased by the Western Region Acting Secretary of the APC in respect of the alleged assault may tend to incriminate the accused persons, it should not be used to incriminate them because the said letter was neither written by the accused persons nor did they approve it.
In her closing address to the jurors, State prosecutor Umu Sumaray stated that a total of 10 witnesses were led in evidence during the course of the trial including the tendering of several exhibits including the certified cause of death and a letter of apology from the APC party.
She said that according to the medical report Samura died as a result of blood force injuries he sustained on the 31st March 2018 during the presidential run-off election around the Lumley area.
She also drew the attention of the jury to some material inconsistencies in the statements of two factual witnesses and their evidence in court adding that there was no new intervening act to prove that death could not have occurred as a result of what happened to him on the 31st March 2018.
Addressing the jurors, defence lawyer Melron Nicol Wilson said that the case of the prosecution was “not convincing, lacked merit and does not meet the threshold for a guilty verdict in respect of both counts.”
He noted that the testimony of the 1st prosecution witness proffered no supporting evidence to the case of the prosecution indicating that the accused persons murdered the deceased, adding that the letter of apology was neither written by the accused persons nor signed by them and therefore had no bearing on the matter before the court.
He argued that the testimony of the 2nd prosecution witness indicated that the deceased was attacked by some State House security personnel which he said exonerated the accused persons from committing any offences, adding that there was no evidence that the accused person inflicted the blood force injury on the deceased which he said is corroborated the testimony of the pathologist.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online 12/03/21
