By: Audrey Raymonda John
A businesswoman, Mariama Kamara, on Tuesday testified before Magistrate John Manso Fornah at Pademba Road Magistrate Court No. 2 in Freetown in the ongoing trial of seven accused persons facing charges of conspiracy, larceny, and receiving stolen goods involving construction materials valued at NLe574,340.
The accused are Samuel Mansaray, 26, a caretaker; Charles Mansaray, 19, unemployed; Solomon Augustine Bangura, 20, a pupil; John Conteh, 27; Abdulai Sankoh, a businessman; Ibrahim Sesay, 33, a construction worker; and Alhassan Sankoh, 43, a businessman.
According to the charge sheet, the first three accused are standing trial on two counts of conspiracy to commit a felony and larceny, contrary to law and Section 2 of the Larceny Act of 1916. The prosecution alleged that between 2023 and 17 June 2026, at Kaningo, Lumley, in the Western Area, they conspired with persons unknown to steal construction materials belonging to the complainant, Mariama Kamara.
The prosecution alleged that the stolen items included rolls of electrical cables of various sizes and colours, 48 buckets of five-gallon paint, a double French door, an electric cooker, double and single electrical sockets, floor drains, bags of granite and cement, boxes of tiles, tubes of silicone, and other building materials, with a total estimated value of NLe574,340.
The fourth accused, John Conteh, is charged with receiving stolen goods, contrary to Section 33(1) of the Larceny Act of 1916. Prosecutors alleged that he received several of the stolen items, including LED spotlights, chandelier lights with fans, toilet seats, paint, and shower sets, knowing them to have been stolen.
The fifth accused, Abdulai Sankoh, also faces a charge of receiving stolen goods. The prosecution alleged that he received NLe22,000 in cash and 48 buckets of paint valued at NLe26,000, knowing the property had been stolen.
The sixth accused, Ibrahim Sesay, is accused of receiving stolen electrical cables, while the seventh accused, Alhassan Sankoh, is charged with receiving five chandelier lights with fans valued at NLe36,000, allegedly knowing they were stolen.
Led in evidence by the prosecutor, the complainant identified the first accused as her former caretaker and told the court that she was also familiar with the other accused persons.
Kamara testified that in early 2024, her aunt, Irene, requested that she employ the first accused as a caretaker. After consulting his mother, she agreed, and he later began working at her construction site in November 2025.
She further testified that the first accused later introduced his friend, Ibrahim Kamara, to work at the site.
According to the witness, she visited the construction site at the end of January 2026 and discovered that she could not unlock the premises because a key had broken inside the lock. She said the third accused informed her that Ibrahim Kamara had broken the key and claimed he did not know the whereabouts of the first accused.
Kamara told the court that she contacted the first accused by telephone and questioned why he had entrusted her keys to other people. She said he replied that he trusted them. About a week later, she discovered that another key had also broken inside the lock.
The complainant further testified that on 3 February 2026, electricians arrived at the site and she discovered that ten rolls of electrical cables were missing. She said she informed the first accused, who allegedly denied knowledge of the missing cables. Although he later returned with six replacement rolls, she said two of those also disappeared.
She testified that she subsequently warned the first accused not to allow additional people onto the construction site.
Kamara told the court that in June 2026, she visited the first accused’s residence to retrieve her keys. According to her, his mother contacted him, and he returned with the keys before accompanying them back to the construction site.
Upon inspecting the premises, she said she discovered that only five of the original 53 large buckets of paint remained. She also noticed that part of a newly installed door had been damaged.
The witness stated that after obtaining the store key from the third accused, she opened the storage room and found that numerous construction materials had disappeared.
She said she immediately informed the first accused’s mother, who advised her to report the matter to the police. She subsequently made a report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), where statements were obtained from her and the first three people accused. Police officers later visited the construction site to inspect and photograph the scene.
Kamara testified that the missing items included paint, assorted electrical cables, toilet seats, an electric cooker, Shangavia lights, and several other construction materials valued at NLe574,340.
She further told the court that two days after reporting the matter, investigators informed her that they had obtained fresh evidence from the mobile phones of the first and second accused persons. She said she later accompanied police officers, armed with a search warrant, to recover some of the allegedly stolen items.
According to the witness, the third accused led investigators to several locations in Lumley where some of the property had allegedly been sold.
She testified that police recovered six buckets of paint bearing her partners’ inscription, “A.B.S.”, from the shop of the fourth accused, while two rolls of electrical cable bearing her identification mark, “Sarvey,” were allegedly recovered from the sixth accused.
Kamara further testified that two Shangavia lights were recovered from a shop along Shaviff Drive and that at Kaningo Junction, the third accused identified the fifth accused as the person to whom some of the stolen property had allegedly been sold.
She concluded her testimony by telling the court that the first accused later identified the recovered exhibits at the CID as her property.
The matter was adjourned to 22 July 2026 for the continuation of the prosecution’s case.
As the trial continues, the charges remain allegations, and all seven accused persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.