By: Hafsatu Z.Bangura
Justice Mohamed Bawoh has yesterday sentenced a 33-year- old Laborer Amadu Bangura to fifteen years imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping a twenty years adult.
Bangura was before the court on one count of Rape contrary to Section 6 of the Sexual Offence Act No 12 of 2012, as repealed and replaced by Section 4 of the Sexual (Amendment) Act of 2019 Act No.8 of 2019.
State prosecution, alleged that the convict on 24th August, 2021, at Kerry Town in the Western Area of the Republic of Sierra Leone, intentionally committed an act of sexual penetration without her consent.
After the defense closed their case, an option was given to the convict to select whether he wanted to rely on his statement he made to the police, take the witness stand and call witness or testify in the dock. But he informed the court through his lawyer from the Legal Aid Board that, he relied on the statement he made to the police.
Meanwhile, Justice Mohamed Bawo immediately withdrew the file for judgment.
The judge recalled that the accused had pleaded not guilty to the offence as charged, adding that the prosecution brought four witnesses including the mother of the victim.
He said in the case of the prosecution, they also made an application for the matter to be tried by judge alone, which he granted accordingly.
However, Justice Bawo in his ruling stated that, the 20 years victim testified that the convict said she was at the garden when the accused raped her in the garden.
He said the victim in her testimony in court narrated how the convict after raping her threatened to kill her if she conveyed the massage to anybody.
“I submit that the prosecution has proven it case beyond all reasonable doubt against the accused person. I therefore hold the accused guilty as charged of sexual penetration. He is therefore sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment,” he ordered.
