By Alpha Abu
Residents of Rogbere Junction in Port Loko District are still in shock following the brutal killing of a 33-year-old popular businessman Mohamed Kamara commonly called ‘Speed O’.
Reports say a group of people believed to be armed robbers broke into his home in the early hours of Wednesday 13 January 2021 and subsequently killed him.
Mohamed Tamba Sandi, the deceased’s cousin, gave a graphic account of events on the day of his death. He alleged that someone he knew only as Chernor, led the assailants to his house around 03:00 am on Wednesday.
He said Chernor and the deceased used to be close friends but fell out after Chernor failed to honour an agreement to pay for a commercial bike the deceased had bought for him. Consequently he took back the bike from him.
Sandi said Kamara was a strong man and so was able to valiantly fight his attackers although he did not win. As his attackers tried to subdue him, he screamingly told his younger sister, Saina Ngebah, to make calls but the phone was wrestled from her before she was beaten up. She was said to have feigned death as Kamara continued fighting with the group for his dear life.
In the melee, according to Vandi, Saina sneaked into the toilet, smashed the window open and escaped through it to alert neighbours. Kamara’s wife was also mercilessly beaten and left unconscious. Their 8-year-old daughter who was weeping as the horrific scene unfolded before her eyes, pleaded with the men not to kill her father.
But Kamara was allegedly gunned down in a hail of bullets. His daughter is said to be able to identify some of the men, including Chernor who was unmasked by her father in the struggle during his final moments. She has since been taken to a secluded place for her safety and likely treatment for the trauma she went through.
The group was said to have stolen Le 15 million in cash. The attackers took the slain man’s mobile phone that contained a substantial sum of OrangeMoney was carted away, as they did other valuables before fleeing the scene of crime.
According to reports, a close relative of Kamara, a soldier, was among the first people to visit at the scene where the victim’s body lay in a pool of blood. The soldier was believed to have collected the spent bullets and taken them to the nearby Police Station.
Investigators were able to match the serial numbers on the shells to ammunition supposed to be in the lawful care of an Operational Support Division (OSD) police officer assigned to the road checkpoint at Rogbere. Sources claim that seven people have been arrested including the policeman.
Police spokesman, Superintendent Brima Kamara when contacted by Politico over allegations of the involvement of a police officer in the killing was quite circumspect and stated:
“But I know there was an allegation against a police officer. In that context there’s nothing we can do except if the allegations are very strong whether he is a police officer or not, we just have to have him in our custody. Even though I have not crosschecked I want to believe if the allegations are strong those around there could have done the right thing by taking him into custody,” he said. Police at Rogbere could not be reached.
The remains of the deceased have since been laid at Rogbere after a tense atmosphere in which youths went to the police station and demanded that the suspects be handed over to them.
Kamara was born and raised at Makonde Njala and attended Experimental School and University Secondary School, Njala. It was in secondary school that he earned the nickname ‘Speed O’ for his record-breaking moments as a phenomenal and extremely popular track athlete.
After completing his Diploma programme in Social Work at Njala University in 2013, he went to live with his uncle simply known as Pa Bundu at Rogbere, a place he was no stranger to, as he had often spent holidays there over the years staying at his uncle’s place.
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