By Francis H Murray
A twelve member jury has been sworn in before Justice Augustine Musa in the ongoing High Court trial of former Mayor of Freetown Herbert George Williams and the Public Relations Officer of the opposition All Peoples Congress Party in the Western Area Abu Bakarr Daramy on a two-count indictment of murder and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
In her opening address to the jurors, State prosecutor Umu Sumaray said it was her duty to prove the elements of murder and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm beyond all reasonable doubts so as to put the jury in a position to make sound decisions as judges of facts.
She said the principles of a murder indictment which include establishing that the accused persons are of sound mind, within the jurisdiction of Sierra Leone and that the victim of the alleged murder must be a human being have all been complied with.
The first prosecution witness Detective Police Constable 9268 Joseph Jay Collins attached to the Major Incident Unit at the Criminal Investigation Department recognized the accused persons and recalled that he was on duty sometime in October 2019, when a case and inquiry file in respect of an alleged murder was transferred to him for further investigations.
He said the matter was officially assigned to Detective Inspector John J. Williams and himself along with the case and inquiry file which contained a medical certificate of the cause of death, an endorsed police medical request form and a letter of apology from the APC party and other documents.
He added that the statement column contained the statements of the deceased as well as witnesses and the voluntary caution statements of the accused persons. He added that on the 22nd of October 2019, he charged the accused persons separately with conspiracy to murder and murder.
The witness told the court that during the process, “I and DPC 9007 Kanu A. B. contemporaneously interviewed the accused persons and put their charge statements to them to be signed but both of them refused”, adding that he prepared a certificate instead in respect of their refusal.
Under cross-examination by Lawyer Melron Nicol Wilson representing the first accused, the witness confirmed that the letter of apology was neither written by the first accused nor signed by him and that he could not tell whether the letter was in response to any written letter from the Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ) in respect of the incident.
The witness said he charged the accused persons based on an endorsed medical certificate in respect of an incident which occurred on the 31st March 2018, which didn’t bear the name of the first accused, adding that he also obtained an additional statement from one Thomas Dixon, who was an eye witness to the incident.
Detective Collins said he could not recall whether Dixon had told him at any time during the course of the investigations that the deceased was assaulted by security personnel from State House and that the first accused had told him that he was a business man. He could also not recall whether the wife of the deceased had told him that her husband said he was assaulted by the first accused.
Under cross-examination by lawyer Lansana Dumbuya for the second accused the witness said that the second accused had refused to sign his charge statement because his lawyer was absent and that the letter of apology was neither written nor signed by him.
When asked whether he knew that the deceased collapsed in the presence of his wife three months after the alleged incident, the witness replied that the deceased died on the 6th June 2018.
The matter is adjourned to the 1st September 2020.
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