By Francis Murray
Justice Monfred Sesay of the High Court in Freetown has sentenced one Abdul Turay to 15 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of wounding Police Inspector Sultan Mohammed Sewa.
During the trial the prosecution called five witnesses and tendered five exhibits including the voluntary caution and charge statements of the accused, photos of the victim and the medical reports which stated that the victim had deep laceration wound that had to be stitched.
Before passing sentence Justice Sesay said the evidence which adduced in court indicated that Inspector Sewa and other officers were executing a warrant of arrest against the convict on an alleged case of assault and wounding reported by one Rugiatu Mansaray at the Moyamba Police station.
He said there was sufficient evidence before the court to show that the victim was not only seriously wounded, but the wound also left him deformed, citing the voluntary caution statements made to the police by the convict in which he confessed hitting the victim with a machete.
The Judge said having gone through the evidence of the prosecution and the statements of the accused to the police, he was satisfied that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
In his plea mitigation, defense lawyer from Legal Aid Board Ansumana Kanu pleaded with the Judge to temper justice with mercy and not to hand down the maximum sentence for wounding with intent which is life imprisonment.
State prosecutor Solomon Christian Kekurah told the Judge to consider a ten-year imprisonment instead of life imprisonment considering the fact that the convict was a young man with a future but the judge jailed Turay for 15 years.
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