By Francis H. Murray
Justice Monfred Sesay has sentenced three men to death after they were convicted of two counts of conspiracy to and murder. A jury at the High Court in Freetown returned a unanimous guilty verdict against Samuel Kamara, Foday Bangura and Peter Momoh Bockarie for the killing a 65 year old Hawa Rosaline Pa-Bai in 2017.
The prosecution led in evidence a total of eight witnesses including pathologist Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma and tendered thirty-one exhibits including one Blu mobile phone which was used by the deceased, kitchen knives, the chord of electronic iron and a number of statements during the course of the trial.
In his closing address to the jurors, State Prosecutor Joseph A.K Sesay said it was the duty of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused persons by proving all the elements connected to the offences for which they were arraigned.
He said the elements in respect of count one included to prove that the there was an agreement among the accused persons and to show by way of evidence what each of them did in furtherance of the offence and also prove that they agreed intentionally to commit the said offence.
The prosecutor said in respect of count two, the prosecution had to prove that the accused persons were normal at the time they committed the offence and were also normal while they stood trial, that each of them did something to the deceased which caused her death, and had the intention to kill the deceased or cause her serious bodily injury.
He told the court that the allegation against the accused was that on diverse dates between 30th June 2017 and 4th July 2017, the accused persons conspired together with other persons unknown to murder and did murder Rosaline Pa-Bai in the Western Area of Freetown.
Lawyer Sesay said the first accused Samuel Koroma was a next door neighbour of the deceased at 67 Off Regent Road Lumley, the second accused Foday Bangura was the deceased personal driver, the third accused Bockarie was residing with the deceased as her house help.
He went on to explain that on 3 July 2017, the deceased informed the third accused that she had ran out of money for the maintenance of the home and that she needed to meet one Mr. Ahmad who operates a foreign currency exchange bureau to collect some amount of money.
He said upon hearing such information, the third accused informed the 2nd and 1st accused persons about what was going to happen.
Lawyer Sesay said that on the same day the driver (2nd accused) picked up the deceased to go to the bureau to collect the money with which they bought some household materials and returned home in the late afternoon.
He went on to note that with the intention to steal the money, all three accused persons went to the house of the deceased after 12 midnight on the 4th July 2017 and they ended up killing the lady because they feared being identified subsequently.
He added that the accused persons in the process strangled the old woman to death with an electric iron chord and stabbed her twice on the right side of her neck. He cited the medical report on the cause of death which concluded that her death was unnatural and homicidal, resulting from manual strangulation and neurogenic shock and from two stab wounds.
The prosecutor said after the incident, the first accused said he saw the second accused late in the night and invited him to a place called The Spot Nightclub where the 2nd accused revealed to him what he had done.
The prosecutor argued that the 2nd accused would not have disclosed what he had done to the 1st accused if he (the 1st accused) was not part of the plan and that they later distributed the proceeds amongst them.
Citing the confessional statement of the 1st accused, Lawyer Sesay stressed that such evidence in itself could lead to conviction even in the absence of any other evidence, noting that the evidence before the court pointed to the fact that the 3rd accused allowed the 2nd and 1st accused persons into the house of the deceased and by their conduct, killed her.
He added that from the start of the trial to its completion, there was no evidence before the court that the accused persons were mad at the time of the commission of the offence or during the course of the trial, which he said qualified them for trial.
He concluded that the prosecution had “successfully” proven all the elements of the offences as charged and urged the jurors to return a guilty verdict against all three persons in respect of both counts.
In his submission, defence lawyer for the first accused William Illoba argued that the claim that his client made a confessional statement to the police was a misunderstood concept, stressing that his client was merely reporting what the 2nd accused had told him.
He added that the prosecution had led no evidence before the court that connected his client to the act of inflicting any injuries whatsoever on the deceased.
Defence lawyer from the Legal Aid Board for the 2nd and 3rd accused persons Komba Kanu said the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and also didn’t prove all the necessary elements of the two charges.
Justice Sesay acquitted and discharged all accused persons of the conspiracy charge, but sentenced them to death by hanging for the count of murder. The convicts now have 21 days to appeal.
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