By: Audrey Raymonda John
Magistrate Mark Ngegba of Pademba Road Court no 1 on Monday 14th August 2023 sentence Ndakwe Tata Sylvain to three months imprisonment or pays a fine of five thousand new Leones to the state as he was found guilty of possessing fake traveling documents at the Lungi International Airport.
The convict was standing trial before the court on a count charge of possession of a travelling document suspected to have been unlawfully obtained, contrary to Section 13 (1) of the Summary Conviction Offences Act of 1966.
According to the charge sheet, the accused Ndakwe Tata Sylvain on Saturday 8 July 2023, at the Freetown International Airport, Lungi, whiles attempting to travel out of Sierra Leone, was found in possession of fake travelling document, to wit, one United States of America Passport with Serial Number 681471593 bearing the name and photograph of Oliver Agah Tata, suspected to have unlawfully obtained.
The convict had earlier pleaded guilty of the offense when the charges were read and explain to him.
Before sentencing the convict in his allocutus pleaded for mercy and said he will not repeat such act.
In his plea mitigation lawyer M. S Kamara pleaded with the magistrate not to pose a custodian sentence on the convict but to give him a minimum one, adding that he is a first time offender and had learnt his lesson.
The prosecutor Sergeant 9939 Lahai Farma said the offense committed by the convict is a very serious one.
Magistrate Ngegba sentenced the convict to three months imprisonment or pays a fine of five thousand new Leones to the state.