By Francis H. Murray
Justice Monfred Sesay of the High Court in Freetown has sentenced one Michael Kamara to 12 years imprisonment after the court found him guilty of a one-count indictment of sexually penetrating a 12-year old girl.
Delivering his judgement, Justice Monfred Sesay noted that he was satisfied that the prosecution had proven the guilt of accused by adducing sufficient evidence against him for which he was found guilty of the offence of sexual penetration.
He said he did not believe the unsworn testimony of the accused in court as he told lies when he denied the allegation.
The prosecution led in evidence five witnesses including the victim and a medical doctor while the accused testified in his own defence.
In her testimony, Dr. Olabisi Claudius Cole noted that after the medical examination of the victim, she found out that she had been sexually penetrated and also discovered multiple blisters in her private part.
The 12-year victim told the court that she had returned from school when her friend convinced her to go and launder at a certain place called Portor, off peninsular road and ended up being chased by two men who succeeded in capturing her, after which they took her into a room along the Goderich beach.
She continued to note that she met the accused Michael in the room who told her to undress, but when she refused, he instructed one of his boys to undress her and then told them to go outside and serve as watch dogs for him whiles he sexually penetrated her.
The class 6 pupil said later the two boys came in and alerted the accused that police officers were coming, he got up, wore his trousers and they all left the scene.
In his plea mitigation, defence lawyer for the accused Komba Kanu pleaded with the Judge to tamper mercy by giving him a minimum sentence of 7 years, arguing that he was a first time offender who had learnt his lesson and had vowed to be responsible.
But State Prosecutor Joseph Andrew Kale Sesay argued that based on the seriousness of the offence, the judge must levy a 15-year sentence which was the maximum sentence.
In his reply to the plea mitigation, Justice Monfred Sesay said the convict did not deserve mercy, describing his behaviour as bad and noted that the convict’s action clearly showed that he was one those men in the habit of sending hooligans to apprehend innocent and minor girls and thereafter taking advantage of them.
He added that he considered very seriously the blisters the victim sustained in her private part during the sexual act which he said was horrible.
He used the occasion to caution the victim’s parents as well as other parents to discipline their children and to serve as watch dogs, stressing that the cases of sexual penetration would not have been on the increase had they provided effective parenting to their children.
He called on the parents of the girl to be strict in controlling and monitoring her every movement during and after school hours, adding that she would not have fallen victim if she hadn’t followed her friend to launder.
The convict will serve his jailed term at the Male Correctional Centre in Freetown, with effect from his time of arrest in 2019.
The prosecution had alleged that Michael Kamara on a date unknown between the 23rd and 27th October 2020, in the Western Area of Freetown, engaged in an act of sexual penetration with a child below the age of 18.
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