By Abass Jalloh
High Court Judge, Justice Manuela Harding has sentenced a 29-year-old technician, Umar Bai Kamara, to life imprisonment after being convicted of having sexual intercourse with an 11-year-old girl.
The convict was charged with a count of Sexual Penetration contrary to section 19 of the Sexual Offences Act No. 12 of 2012 as repealed and replaced by section 4 a(ii) of the Sexual Offences Amendment Act No. 8 of 2019.
It was alleged that the accused on an unknown date in 2020 sexually assaulted the girl at her residence.
Justice Harding sentenced the convict Kamara to life imprisonment and that he must compensate the child victim with the sum of thirty million Leones (Le 30,000,000) pursuant to section 37 of the Sexual Offences Amendment Act No. 12 of 2012 as amended for the cost of necessary transportation, temporary housing and child care, adding that the cost includes the emotional distress, pain and suffering the victim would have to endure.
The prosecution, led by Robin Mason Jr, brought in four witnesses in court to testify including the victim and her father.
In her judgment on Friday 29th July 2022, Justice Harding concluded that the prosecution had established the accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt and “to support the prosecution’s case, the accused admitted to having committed the offence charged”.
“Therefore, I find the accused Umar Bai Kamara guilty of the offence of Sexual Penetration contrary to section 19 of the Sexual Offences Act as repealed and replaced by section 4 a(ii) of the Sexual Offences Amendment Act No. 8 of 2019,” she ruled.
In her testimony, the 11-year-old victim stated that on a particular date in 2020 which she couldn’t state, she was watching a movie with her sister in the sitting room when the convict wanted to join them but that they refused and told him to leave. The convict did not leave, she said.
She said that after her sister left the sitting room, the convict lay on top of her and put his finger into her vagina which she immediately resisted and told him to stop but that he continued.
On another day, the victim stated that the convict came again into the same sitting room, sat on a chair and pretended to be sleeping. As soon as she entered, he grabbed her, threw her on the chair, removed her pants and sexually penetrated her.
She said she reported the incident to her parents and was taken to the hospital where she was medically examined by Dr. Olabisi Claudius Cole, the third prosecuting witness, who is a Medical Doctor attached to the Rainbo Medical Centre at the Cottage Hospital in Freetown.
Dr Cole testified that the hymen of the victim was completely ruptured.
The convict, contrary to his earlier not guilty plea, in his voluntary cautioned statement, admitted that he sexually penetrated the victim at the time of the incident and pleaded for mercy.
After the defence lawyer, K. Khanu, pleaded for mercy on behalf of the convict, Justice Harding stated that the aggravating circumstances, in this case, outweighed the mitigating circumstances, adding that the child victim would be exposed to stigma in society, especially with her peers.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (01/08/22)
