By Abass Jalloh
One Marian Fofanah of Goderich, Freetown appeared before Magistrate Sahr Kekura yesterday 19th July 2022 to answer two counts of Fraudulent Conversion and Larceny.
The prosecution alleges that between November 2021 and February this year Mariam Fofanah was entrusted with 21 security doors each costing one hundred and forty-seven million Leones (Le 147,000,000), property of one Fatmata Juliana Sillah, which the complainant, converted to her own use and benefit.
In the second count the prosecution says between the same dates the accused was entrusted with nine hundred and fifty-seven US dollars ($957), monies belonging to the complainant for the purpose of payment of freight charges for goods owned by the complainant. The money was also converted to the use and benefit of the accused.
In her testimony, the complainant described herself as a businesswoman residing at Regent Road, Lumley and that the accused was her friend who lives at Sarah Lane Peninsula Road, Goderich.
After the brief testimony, the defense lawyer, Mohamed Yahyah Kanu, applied for bail for the defendant, requesting the Magistrate's discretion pursuant to section 79(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1965. He stated that the accused will come to court to answer the charges. There was no object from the lawyer for the complainant, Teddy Koroma.
Magistrate Kekura granted bail the sum of fifty thousand Leones (NLe 50,000) bail for the accused.
The matter was adjourned to the 27th of July 2022.
In another case a woman was arraigned before Magistrate Sahr Kekura over an alleged land transaction involving the sum of one hundred and twenty-nine million Leones (Le 129,000,000).
During the hearing yesterday 19th July 2022, Osman Rashid Sesay, a witness who mediated the negotiation between the accused person and the complainant, Mohamed Lamin, who was to buy six plots of land from the accused, testified that the accused, whom he said he knew as a land owner, told him that she had land for sale.
The witness said he connected the two people for the transaction and then proceeded to the land at Bawbaw village in the Freetown Peninsular where they negotiated for the purchase of three plots of land for the sum of twenty-two million Leones (Le 22,000,000) each, summing up to sixty-six million Leones (Le 66,000,000), adding that the complainant then made an advanced payment of twenty-four million Leones (Le 24,000,000) for the property.
The witness said the accused later called him and told him to add another three remaining plots that were extensions to the three they had negotiated for so that the complainant will possess the entire six plots. He said he then discussed it with the complainant and he accepted.
The witness stated that he, the accused, and the complainant negotiated for the sum of twenty-one million Leones (Le 21,000,000) for each plot, totaling the sum of sixty-three million Leones (Le 63,000,000).
The witness said he and the complainant later came to the house of the accused and the complainant gave the sum of thirty million Leones (Le 30,000,000) for the added plots.
He said two other men witnessed the payment and that the accused gave him a receipt for 43 million Leones which he passed on to the complainant.
The complainant later reported the two of them to the Adonkia Police Station in Freetown because the negotiation was not successful, the witness said.
The matter was adjourned to the 3rd August 2022 for commencement of cross-examination.
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