By Saio Marrah
The 6th accused in the treason trial of Abdul Koita Makalo and 11 others has denied a portion of his statement to the effect that he overheard the 8th accused person, Bai Mahmoud Bangura, telling someone that he was part of the coup plotters and that former president Ernest Bai Koroma funded the failed coup.
The accused rejected that part of his voluntary caution statement in court on Wednesday 14th February 2024, as the investigator, Detective Sergeant Phillip Bob Smart read it out. According to him, he agreed to sign the said statement after he was told that the particular portion had been deleted.
Meanwhile, his lawyer A.A. Bangura has applied for the court to order that portion of the statement in question be expunged to ensure a “fair trial”.
Lawyer Bangura said his client “categorically” denies that the portion of the statement were his words and that he agreed to sign because he is “illiterate and did not have a lawyer at the time”.
That application was dismissed by Justice Komba Kamanda because it was a “novelty” and the “parameters with which the application would have been granted lack those features”.
The contentious portion of the statement indicates that while the accused was in detention at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) he overheard the 8th accused, Bai Mahmoud Bangura telling another person in the same cell that he (Bai Mahmoud Bangura) was part of the coup plotters and that a colleague betrayed them because he failed to obey instructions given to him for the execution of the coup.
It adds that Bai Mahmoud told his colleague in the police cell that former president Ernest Bai Koroma spent Le 14 billion old Leones to sponsor the coup and that the money had gone down the drain because their colleague failed to adhere to instructions.
The 6th accused is also reported to have said that a man known as the APC sheriff gave 200 United States Dollars for the coup, but that “the All People’s Congress (APC) Deputy Chairman, Foday Yansaneh chopped the money, saying APC Sheriff did not have a better way of spending money”.
According to the statement the accused is a commercial motorbike rider who, on the day of the incident, met military personnel drinking alcohol at Juba Barracks in Freetown and joined them. He said it was at that time that he volunteered to join the soldiers to fight the assailants and that a senior soldier ordered one of his men to give him military uniforms. He said the soldier then drove him on his bike and dropped him off at Goderich military barracks where he was arrested.
The 6th accused is charged with the unlawful wearing of military uniform and misprison of treason.
Two military officers have testified saying they saw the accused in military uniform on the 26th of November 2023, the day of the coup at both Juba and Goderich Military barracks. The accused denied that statement saying that the military uniform was forcefully put on him by soldiers.
Amadu Koita Makalo and 11 others are indicted for treason, misprision of treason, murder, and attempt to overthrow the government of Sierra Leone.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (16/02/24)
