By Audrey Raymonda John
Twenty-four-year-old Aminata Tucker, a pupil, made another appearance before Magistrate Peter Brima Gogra of Pademba Road Court No. 6 in Freetown on a count of Larceny Findings contrary to section 2 of the Larceny Act 1916.
According to the particulars of the offense, on Saturday, December 23, 2023, at Lakka Village Peninsula Road in the Western Area of Freetown, she stole the sum of three thousand United States dollars, equivalent to the sum of seventy-two thousand Leones (72,000), the property of Mabinty Sesay.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Marie Sesay led Prosecution Witness Number One, Mabinty Sesay, a businesswoman. She testified that she recognized the accused person as she had employed her as a house help. She recalled that on December 23, 2023, something transpired between herself and the accused person. She stated that on that date, the accused person came to do laundry, and she gave her clothes for laundry, inadvertently including her purse containing the sum of three thousand United States dollars.
The witness stated that after a few days, she searched for her money but couldn’t find it, not realizing that she had included the money among the clothes she gave to the accused person.
She then confronted the accused person, who initially denied having the money but later admitted to taking it and claimed it was with her sister. The witness, together with the accused person and some police officers, went to the house of the accused person’s sister, Martha, where they retrieved a portion of the money.
Additionally, the accused person handed over some money she had hidden in her SIM card. The witness reported the incident to the CID headquarters on Pademba Road, Freetown, and the accused person’s house was searched, leading to the discovery of her child’s identity card.
During cross-examination by the accused person, details were further scrutinized.
Magistrate Gogra refused bail and remanded the accused person to the female correctional facility in Freetown, adjourning the matter to February 21, 2024, for further hearing.
