By Mohamed Foday Conteh
The husband of Randa Skeiky, Bassam Skeiky has testified for his wife at the High Court in Freetown over a missing five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
Bassam told Justice Momoh-Jah Stevens on the 8th December 2021 that his wife told him she was innocent of the accusations.
He said he could not recall the date he returned to Freetown only to hear of an alarm from the complainant, Ali Abess that the said money had gone missing at the house where his wife was.
The husband said when he was in Freetown, he had a meeting with the complainant together with his elder brother and that Abess took him to a room and showed him a wardrobe where he said the money was kept at the bottom shelf.
Bassam said when he returned home later and enquired from his wife, she denied the allegations citing that she is innocent.
He told the judge that he also visited the alleged crime scene later when the police officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) were dealing with the matter.
He said they later met at the house on the request of the lawyer for the complainant, Charles Francis Margai. He said himself, his wife, the complainant, a certain Ali Musa (now deceased) and lawyer Margai went to the said house in the morning hours of a Monday.
He said Abess showed them again where he said the missing money was kept but could not remember whether his wife was present at that scene or not.
The husband, in the cross-examination by State Counsel, Aruna Jalloh, denied making any undertaking while they were present at the house that morning.
The husband was testifying as the second defence witness after his wife testified as the first in the trial.
Randa, the wife when testifying, also denied the allegation when put to her both in examination and cross-examination.
Although she agreed that the complainant left her in charge of his business before travelling overseas with his family, she said she only did what her boss asked her to do.
The trial will continue on Tuesday 14th December 2021 before Justice Stevens with the defence set to bring in their third witness to testify in the matter.
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