By Mohamed Foday Conteh
Justice Monfred Sesay has sentenced Abdul Gibrilla Sesay, 35, a former Operational Support Division (OSD) officer of the Sierra Leone Police to five years imprisonment for manslaughter.
Sesay, on Wednesday 10th November this year, pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Ibrahim Kamara in a shooting incident that happened in Wellington on the 4th June 2018.
The State Counsel, Joseph A. K. Sesay said the deceased and some other people were having a confrontation with the accused’s father for a plot of land located at Pa Alpha Waterside, in the Congo Water community, Wellington.
He said that the accused, who was an OSD officer at the time of the incident, arrived at the scene and joined in the quarrel in support of his father.
The lawyer said that the accused used his Small Machine Gun (SMG) and shot Kamara. He said Sesay was then attacked by others who were at the scene. The State Prosecutor said Kamara died the following day from the wounds he sustained from the gunshot.
The accused pleaded with the judge for mercy. He explained how he served the Police force for eight years before the incident and that his house was looted and later burnt down.
He claimed a group of people descended on him just after the shooting beaten and then stabbed on his left hand.
The defence lawyer, Komba Kanu, in his plea, said that the accused was a first-time offender and remorseful for his action while citing his demeanour in court.
The defence lawyer said that the accused is a family man with three children and that they have been ‘psychologically’ and ‘economically’ affected. He stated that the accused who was immediately dismissed by the Force after the incident has spent over three years behind bars.
He beseeched the judge to consider time spent when sentencing the accused and pleaded with him to temper justice with mercy.
Justice Sesay convicted the accused for manslaughter.
The judge commented in court that trigger-happy officers should not be condoned in the Police. He said while Sesay has the right to defend his parents, he was also mandated to protect other lives and properties.
Justice Sesay, took into consideration the plea by the defence and sentenced him to five years imprisonment including time spent behind bars.
Copyright © Politico Online 12/11/21
