By Abass Jalloh
Court of Appeal Judge, Komba Kamanda, presiding over cases at the Sexual Offences Model Court in Freetown, has sentenced Moseray Kamara to 20 years imprisonment after being found guilty of sexually penetrating a 7-year-old child.
The 30-year-old man was before the court to answer to charges related to Sexual Penetration of a minor, which he denied.
In his judgment on Tuesday October 18, Justice Kamanda said: “I hold that in this case, the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The accused was identified, but all he did was to merely deny the allegation which is not sufficient to prove his innocence.”
He stressed that the accused was guilty as charged and pronounced the imprisonment.
Earlier, the state prosecutor, Yusuf Isaac Sesay, made an application for trial by Judge alone to expedite the case, a request that was granted by Justice Kamanda.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on the evidence of five witnesses including the child victim who were brought to court.
The 7-year-old girl in her testimony confirmed that she knew the accused and recalled on the 7th September 2021, how the accused sexually penetrated her and threatened to kill her if she reported anything of that nature.
She said since she could not withstand the traumatic situation, she later told her mother about what had happened and the matter was reported to the police. She was later taken to the hospital for medical examination.
At the close of the prosecution's case, the accused denied the allegation and did not call any witness.
Also, in another related matter, Justice Kamanda discharged 50-year-old security guard, Bockarie Kanneh, for the offence of Sexual Penetration, for want of prosecution.
Kanneh allegedly on the 4th February 2022 harboured a 16-year-old girl for three days, during which time it was claimed he sexually penetrated her.
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