By Abass Jalloh
The Prosecution in the ongoing Magistrate Court hearing involving the Managing Director of Skye Bank Sierra Leone, Ikubolaje Nicol, who is charged over the alleged killing of junior co-worker, Sinnah Kai Kargbo, has led two witnesses in testifying.
On Wednesday December 7, the prosecuting lawyer, Ahmed Bockarie, brought in Police Constable Mustapha Conteh as the first witness, attached to the Mountain Division in Freetown, and Nurse Augusta Kamara from Shuman Hospital at Pultney Street in Freetown.
In his testimony at Court No. 1 in Freetown, the first witness, Police Constable Conteh, told the court that he recognized the accused that looked pensive in the dock. The officer said he was attached to Nicol's Leicester residence as guard for over a year, normally taking up duty at 9 p.m.
He noted that the accused lives with a caretaker and his family in the same compound but that he lives alone in his own separate building.
Conteh told the court that he was on duty on the 15 October 2022 when at around midnight Nicol drove out of his house, returning at around 1 a.m. He said that Nicol later went out again with the same vehicle and returned at 3 am.
The policeman said he was about to sign off duty at 6:00am when Nicol approached him that he needed his help, after telling him that his girlfriend had "felt bad".
He said when he entered the room with the caretaker of the house, there was a lady around Nicol and another fair-complexioned one on the floor of the bathroom naked with her tongue sticking out.
He said they put the deceased into the back of the car and drove to the Shuman Hospital where upon arrival a nurse came outside and did a test on Ms. Kargbo’s index finger and then brought a wheelchair for her.
The witness said that at this point he decided to leave the hospital and also refrained from going to work at Nicol’s residence.
The defense lawyer, Roland Wright, stated he had no questions for the accused.
The second witness, Nurse Augusta, said she had known the accused as a client at the Shuman Hospital for more than a year, and recalled being on duty on the 16 October 2022 and giving medication to three patients at around 6:45 a.m, when she heard a voice outside which prompted her to come out. She said she met Nicol who was shouting for help and that he needed a nurse.
According to the nurse, she went over to check the patient, brought in by Nicol but seeing her state, she decided not to check her. She said the lady (Sinnah), was lying on the back seat of the vehicle and had spoon in her mouth, with shorts on, and was not breathing. She said the lady was placed on a stretcher but was not showing any sign of movement.
The nurse stated that she asked Nicol where the patient was from and that his reply was he brought her from a club at 2 a.m.
The nurse explained how a Doctor Bangura came and asked who brought the lady, insisting they will not touch her because she was already dead. She said the doctor came outside to look for Nicol but he had already left the hospital.
The nurse said she told the other two men (Police officer Conteh and the caretaker) for them to take back the lady to the vehicle, but they refused. They also called Nicol repeatedly on phone but he kept saying he would come, but didn’t.
During cross-examination by Lawyer Wright, the witness explained that they normally use the ICU for unconscious patients.
The lawyer then asked whether the nurse has knowledge about “rigor mortis” (when the human body becomes stiffens after death) but she said only a doctor can determine that.
She also dismissed the defense lawyer’s suggestion that the lady was responding which was why there was a spoon in her mouth, saying she couldn’t tell.
At this stage, the prosecution sought for an adjournment, and Magistrate Mark Ngegba adjourned the matter to Tuesday 13th December 2022.
The accused faces charges ranging from Murder to Perverting the Course of Justice.
The prosecution alleged that the accused on diverse dates between the 15th and 16th October 2022, at Leicester Village in Freetown, conspired together with other persons unknown, to murder Sinnah.
It is also alleged that on the 17th October 2022 at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters in Freetown, the accused fabricated evidence with intent to pervert the course of justice.
The bank executive has been on remand since he was first brought before the court.
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