By Aminata Phidelia Allie
First prosecution witness (PW1) in the ongoing preliminary investigation of three accused persons who allegedly pirated hundreds of Sierra Leonean movies, has identified hundreds of pirated movies tendered as evidence before magistrate Komba Kamanda of Court No.2 in Freetown.
Film maker and director, Pastor Aiah, tendered the over 1,000 CDs alongside a monitor, a CPU, a writer or burner, a video camera and a printer. He said the pirated films were being sold at Le 2,500 whiles original copies were being sold at Le 10,000.
Meanwhile, the accused persons, who made a fourth appearance last week and were granted bail, are still in prison as they are yet to meet their stiff bail conditions with a bond of Le 300 million and two sureties each. One of the sureties must be a property owner and must surrender a titled deed to the consultant Master and Registrar who will have to approve their bail before they are released.
The accused persons face a 151-count charge of conspiracy, infringement, and distribution of copyright property and selling of copyright property without lawful authorisation. The three, all in their twenties, were caught around the PZ area in central Freetown with well over 50 pirated Sierra Leonean movies most of which were released on Saturday, January 11 this year.
Their matter comes up again on Monday, February 17.
(C) Politico 13/02/14
