By Francis H Murray
Momodu Barrie, the 2nd defence witness in the trial of Mariama Sajor Barrie and Ibrahim Bah for the alleged murder of 5-year old Khadija Saccoh has testified before Justice John Bosco Allieu and a 12-member jury at the High Court in Freetown.
Led in evidence by Lawyer Alhaji M. Kamara on Wednesday 3rd March 2021, the witness described himself as a business man, the 1st accused as his biological sister, the 2nd accused as his nephew, and the deceased as the daughter of his sister. He said the deceased lived with the 1st accused prior to her death and she treated her like her own daughter and loved her.
He recalled that on the 17th June 2020, he was at his cinema when his sister (1st accused) called him on the phone and informed him that Khadija had died and that he encouraged her sister to be calm and promised to visit the house the next morning as curfew time was fast approaching.
The witness said when he arrived at the house the following day where he met mourners including Isata Jabbie Kabbah and they discussed funeral arrangements. He said after a while, a van from the Columbia Davies funeral home came to the house at the request of Mrs. Kabbah and picked up the remains of the deceased, adding that later he went to Connaught Hospital with the uncle of the deceased as there were rumors that the family had opted for a postmortem examination.
He stressed that upon their return to the house, they encountered a bitter confrontation among the family of the deceased because of the decision to have an autopsy done, and noted that he was also aware of a court action among the parents of the deceased which touched and concerned the deceased.
The witness further noted that he told Mrs. Kabbah and other family members that since the situation had the tendency to tarnish the good name of the family, the autopsy would be done but in the presence of both sides of the family.
He told the court that on the morning of the 19th June 2020, he got a call from Mrs. Kabbah, inviting him to her house to inform him that she had called Dr. Owizz Koroma about the autopsy and that they were to go and witness it. “Upon arrival at the hospital, we explained the purpose of our visit to Dr. Koroma who responded that he had received several calls from prominent people in society in respect of the case including the Internal Affairs Minister. He told us that he would not do the autopsy the next day because he had other issues to attend to. He then told us that the fee for government autopsies was Le480, 000 but that we should pay Le1, 000,000. We ended up agreeing on Le700, 000,’’ he explained.
He said that later on, one Baba Saccoh called to inform him that they were going to Columbia Davies to take snapshots of the deceased but he frowned at the issue because they were doing so without him which was contrary to what was agreed but that Mrs. Kabbah assured them that all would go well. The witness added that Saccoh called him again to inform him that they had gone to Dr. Koroma and had agreed that the autopsy be done by 8am the following morning which he also frowned at saying that they had gone there behind his back after they had arranged for 10am which was suitable for him as he lives in Waterloo.
The witness said: “Finally after the autopsy, the doctor told us that the deceased was raped by two men and later strangled by a professional killer. So I said to him that the matter had been decided for us and that he must do a fingerprint examination on the deceased and match it with those the deceased lived with but he said such facility was not available and I told him I wasn't satisfied with that. Everyone came outside shouting that the deceased was raped and the police immediately arrested my sister because they said the deceased was in her custody.’’
He said later the police then conducted a search at the residence of the deceased where the 2nd accused was also arrested.
Under cross-examination by lawyer Joseph A. K Sesay, the witness said that they agreed that funeral arrangements be moved to the house of Mrs. Kabbah.
Challenged that his testimony was made up, the witness denied and added that they agreed for the date and time of the autopsy in the office of Dr. Owizz Koroma. He said he requested for both family members to be present and be part of all the funeral arrangements. He noted that the result of the autopsy was only read to him but he didn't witness the exercise.
Asked whether he would be surprised to know that the 1st accused had told the court that she didn't know about the autopsy until one Inkia called to inform her about it, the witness said he would not be surprised and that he wasn't aware about the final funeral rites of the deceased.
The matter was adjourned to Tuesday 9th March 2021.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online
