By Francis H. Murray
The judiciary of Sierra Leone has commenced the November criminal session of the High Court in Freetown before presiding judge Monfred Sesay.
The ceremony commenced on Monday 30th November 2020 with fifty six cases (56) that included murder, wounding with intent, robbery with aggravation and sexual penetration, which tops the list of offences with a total of twenty five cases.
Prosecuted by State counsel Umu Sumaray, Mohamed Bangura alias Mix-up was found guilty of a one-count indictment of wounding with intent.
The prosecution had alleged that the convict, on the 19th January 2020, at Goderich in the Western Area of Freetown, wounded one Umaru Bangura with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.
Explaining the allegation against the accused, lawyer Sumaray noted that the accused caught the victim stealing sand from a particular land site where he (the accused) was the care taker.
She went on to note that the accused, having seen the victim and others who had gone to the site to steal and successfully filled about five bags that two among them had already taken away, he came down and stabbed the victim on the left side of his chest.
She added that the victim reported the matter to the police station where he was issued a police medical request form and later received a total of five stitches on his wound at different times.
In his plea, the accused told the court that the victim was caught stealing from his land site, adding that he warned him but the victim grabbed him and a fight ensued and in the process wounded him on one of his fingers. He said he acted in self defence.
In her plea mitigation, defence lawyer from Legal Aid Cecelia Tucker noted that her client was a first time offender and didn’t waste the court’s time, and urged that justice be tempered with mercy and for the accused be cautioned and discharged.
Justice Sesay sentenced the convict to 10 months imprisonment starting from the time of his arrest.
Also prosecuted by State lawyer A.J. M Bockarie, Samuel Sahr Lebbie alias David Conteh was found guilty of a two-count indictment of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretenses and obtaining money by false pretenses.
The convict pleaded guilty to count two of obtaining the sum of $3,500 equivalent to Le 30, 000, 045,000 from Mohamed Sahr Komba by falsely pretending that he had a blue RAV 4 Vehicle for sale.
Lawyer Bockarie offered no evidence against the accused in respect of the conspiracy charge after his guilty plea to count two, adding that he relied on the particulars of offence in count two and prayed that a guilty verdict be reached.
He was however sentenced to 17 months imprisonment with effect from the time of his arrest or pay a fine of Le15, 000,000.
Abu Bakarr Kabia, also entered into a guilty plea for the offence of causing grievous bodily harm against Santigie Kaba Kamara.
In her summary of the allegation, lawyer Sumaray noted that the accused was a laborer and while he and the complainant were loading mangoes at Mercier Street in Freetown, the accused stole and ran away with a wheelbarrow full of mangoes.
Lawyer Sumaray told the court that the accused went in search of him and reported the matter to the Eastern Police station. She added that whilst they were in the station, the accused hit the complainant from the back and then bit and ripped off his lower lip and chewed it. She added that the bitten resulted in serious bodily harm and excessively bleeding, noting that the medical report stated that the injury led to partial mutation of the lower lip for which the victim received 10 stitches.
After plea mitigation from lawyer Tucker, Justice Sesay sentenced the convict to 18 months imprisonment with effect from the time of his arrest.
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