News

By Francis H. Murray

Justice Monfred Sesay has sentenced a 19-year-old student of Baboo College at Allen Town, outside Freetown to 10 years in prison for sexually penetrating a 12-year-old girl. In his ruling, Justice Sesay said that having examined the evidence he was able to establish that what the accused, Allieu Kamara, told the police following his arrest was nothing but a lie to cover up his deed and that the prosecution proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt against the accused for which he was convicted. \\

By Umaru Fofana

A medical team at Sierra Leone’s 34 Military Hospital has "made history" in carrying out a rare surgery on a known COVID-19 patient. In what doctors at the hospital say is probably the first time in West Africa or even the whole continent that such has been done since the pandemic, Chernor Barrie has recovered from the coronavirus and was yesterday discharged from the isolation centre and brought to the main 34 hospital ward where he is recovering from the surgery.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

The Ministry of Finance has unveiled an economic plan geared towards cushioning the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic on the Sierra Leonean economy.

The Quick Action Economic Response Program (QAERP) is designed to “save lives and livelihoods”, officials said at the launch of the document on Monday.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

The District Emergency Operations Center (DEOC) in the southern Bo District said a patient who tested positive for COVID-19 escaped from an isolation center and is on the run.

The patient who was identified as Michel Amara Kobba, 25, was in isolation in the Government Hospital in Bo City.

The DEOC Spokesperson, Francess Mummy Jabaty, told Politico that Kobba was waiting for his test result when he abandoned the center.

By Prince J Musa in Kenema      

The authorities in the eastern Kenema District have resolved to quarantine nine people as punishment for violating Covid-19 movement restrictions.

The men and women were accused of violating the existing inter-district travel restriction imposed by the government as part of efforts to prevent transmission of the virus. They were arrested by police on Monday shortly after their arrival in Kenema, sources said.

While the police say the men and women came from Freetown, the accused denied this.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

The Iron Ore miner, SL Mining Limited, has expressed concern over the arrest of five of its expatriate workers in Sierra Leone. The company said the five workers were arrested last Wednesday May 13^th by the Sierra Leone Police on suspicion of inciting a riot that happened in Lunsar on April 30^th.

The five included two British nationals, one Indian, one South African and a dual citizen of Sierra Leone and United States.

By Francis H. Murray

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has arrested four staff of the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) over allegations of corruption. The arrest comes almost a week after media reports exposed a major scandal around the implementation of the government’s social safety net program.

The four suspects were part of a team that were distributing money to people with disability in the northern district of Bombali ahead of the last nationwide lockdown. NaCSA announced the suspension of the officials over the weekend.