By Francis H. Murray
The trial of N'tuma Mansaray Nee Bangura, a medical nurse who is alleged to have stabbed her husband Corporal Mahmoud Mansaray 18181984 formally of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces Joint Medical Unit at the 34 Military Hospital to death has commenced before Justice Suleiman Bah and a 12-member jury at the High Court in Freetown.
In her address to the jury on Monday 15th February 2021, State Prosecutor Umu Sumaray said that the accused was before the court on a one count indictment of murder for which she had pleaded not guilty.
She said that the burden of proof rested with the prosecution to establish beyond reasonable doubt the elements of murder by way of evidence, adding that the allegation is that the accused on 30th March 2020, at Murray Town Military Barracks in Freetown, stabbed and killed her husband Mahmoud Mansaray.
Led in evidence by the Lawyer Sumaray, the 1st prosecution witness Sheka Kamara recognized the accused as his next door neighbor and recalled that on the night of the 30th March 2020 at around 10pm, he was woken up by noise from inside their compound.
He said he went outside of his room and noticed that the noise was coming from the house of the deceased and the accused.
The witness said he noticed that the deceased and the accused were fighting and that while the fighting went on, he heard the deceased shouting that he had been stabbed. “I immediately kicked the door open and went into the house where both accused and deceased were fighting. Upon entry, I observed that the accused was lying on the ground with the deceased on top of her. I lifted the deceased and observed blood oozing from his chest, I called out for help and I took the deceased to the 34 Military Hospital on a commercial motor bike,” he stated. He said the deceased was pronounced dead at the 34 Military Hospital.
Under cross-examination by lawyer Anthony I. P Mammie, the witness said he lived with both accused and deceased for two years, stressing that during those two years, the accused and the deceased fought regularly with the deceased emerging victorious
The trial was adjourned to the 1st March 2021.
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