March 25, 2021
By: Francis F.M. Harding.
A Journalist, Ibrahim Sorie Kamara attached at Culture Radio FM has on the 24th March, testified before Hon. Justice Sulaiman Bah in an ongoing Sexual Offence trial at the Modern Sexual Offences Court in Freetown.
During cross examination by Defense Lawyer Morrison Karim, the witness said he mentioned a mosque in his last testimony in court and said he is not a frequent worshipper of the said mosque. The Defense Counsel asked whether he knew the accused person, his response was in the affirmative, “I knew Sheikh Mohamed Kamara as an Arabic Scholar, and had known him for three months.”
The witness said he had never had of the accused tampering with any individual within the community. He also told the court that on the said day of the incident nobody was in the mosque at the time he committed the alleged offence.
Defense counsel reminded the witness that in his previous testimony he told the court that when he saw what was going on in the mosque he shouted “wonder still day happun na Mosque Pa-Alie wuna cam oo”. The witness said he wasn’t expecting such to have happened in the house of God.
The witness revealed that he saw the victim laying down on the mat with the accused person and saw the accused person trousers was down and the victim pant was down. The witness said immediately he shouted and Pa-Alie came from behind the Mosque which was not too far from his resident. The witness agreed in court that at the time he did not take any footage of the incident as a Journalist.
Meanwhile, another witness PC 17685 Bangura A. who is attached to the Family Support Unit at Grafton Police station testifies that he knew the victim during the investigation and the accused person.
The witness said he recalled the 11th January, 2020 while on duty at the Family Support Unit at Grafton Police Station at about 8:50 hours the victim and her elder sister Adama Kargbo arrived at the office and made a report on behalf of the victim for sexual penetration by the accused person.
“I and a team of police investigators went to the said Mosque at G-Line New Camp Grafton resettlement to arrest the accused person for sexual penetration of an eight years old girl”.
The medical request form was tendered for identification marked as exhibit Z 1- 4. The witness said himself and Inspector Kalokoh cautioned the accused person as he was in Police custody helping with investigation. He witness said together with other officers, they went to the scene of crime at Grafton and wrote prepared the charged sheet that was sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice. Matter has been adjourned to the 21st April, 2021.