By Francis H. Murray
Detective Police Constable 1355 Paul Lewis, who was involved in the arrest of some of the irate youths who participated in the recent unrest in the Northern City of Makeni has testified before Magistrate Mark Ngegba in Freetown in the ongoing preliminary investigations into a seven-count charge including conspiracy to commit an offense and carrying offensive weapon without lawful authority, among others.
The witness, who’s attached to the Rogbaneh Police Station in Makeni, recognized the third, fifth and tenth accused persons as Themu Kamara, Ibrahim Conteh, and Mohamed Conteh respectively.
He recalled that he was on duty 18th July 2020 at about 09: 30 hours in the morning, when the Operations Support Department headed by Assistant Superintendent of Police Anthony Gaya formed three patrol teams that were made up of military personnel, OSD officers and general duty police, who boarded three separate vehicles to patrol the municipality of Makeni.
He said the purpose of the patrol was in light of a riotous conduct which started on Friday 17th July 2020 following several distress calls about the unrest situation.
The witness said: ‘‘I was part of the team that boarded Police vehicle 170 that embarked on patrolling within the Municipality of Makeni. My team arrived at Gambo Street where I discovered that the road leading to the Holy Spirit Hospital was blocked with sticks, market tables, and boards with nails attached upwards and burning tyres.’’
He continued to note that his team also discovered a large number of youths ranting and carrying machetes, sticks and stones, adding that as they cleared the roadblocks, the youths began to pelt them with stones.
‘‘The OP’s Commander instructed his personnel to fire tear gas above and not beneath. It was at that time I arrested the third accused. My team collected abandoned machetes, five boards with nails attached upward and two sticks’’ he noted.
He added that the team continued along Waxen Street where they also discovered roadblocks and faced stiff resistance from the angry youths, adding that the 5th accused, Ibrahim Conteh was then arrested.
DPC Lewis further noted that they continued their operation along Kabala Road in Makeni which was also blocked with burning tyres, where the 10th accused was also arrested, adding that a total of 10 arrests were made that day three of whom were among the accused persons.
The witness added that the abandoned riotous items were handed over to the Regional Crime Officer, Superintendent of Police John Kargbo.
Under cross-examination by lawyer Wara Serry Kamal, the witness told the court that he is a native of Makeni and has lived there for over 32 years but can’t tell what the course of the riot was as an arresting officer.
He went on to note that about 11:30am on the 18th July, the appropriate authorities had instituted a curfew in the township of Makeni but that some people had left their homes before the said curfew was ordered, adding that he could not tell whether only the rioters were out in the streets at the time of the incident.
He denied when challenged that the 3rd accused was arrested by a military officer and admitted to have arrested him but didn’t take any statements from any of the accused persons.
He admitted to know where the power station in Makeni is situated and that none of the abandoned machetes and sticks were found on any of the accused persons.
When challenged that the 10th accused he identified as Mohamed Conteh, was in fact Mohamed Kargbo and was arrested by a soldier instead of him, which makes his evidence misleading, the witness denied, saying that those were the names he gave to the police initially.
In his application for bail, lawyer I. Sorie argued that the 13s accused persons are ordinary Sierra Leoneans who are accorded certain rights by the constitution and have come before the court for justice, adding that in the process of determining either their guilt or innocence, the bench must consider that if they’re not convicted at the end of the day, the state has no compensating scheme for the psychological harm done to them.
He added that although the offenses against them are serious, it does not preclude them the right to bail.
All accused persons were remanded in custody and the matter adjourned to the 3rd September 2020.
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