By: Audrey Raymonda John
Principal Magistrate of the Freetown Magistrates’ Court No. 1, Magistrate Mustapha Briama Jah, has tested the academic knowledge of four students who appeared before him in an assault-related case, cautioning and discharging three of them after they successfully answered his questions.
The four students were among 17 defendants arraigned before the court on 13 counts, including fraudulent conversion, wounding and assaulting police officers. The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges.
During plea mitigation, Defence Counsel Maddieu Sesay told the court that the defendants were first-time offenders and that some of them were students.
Magistrate Jah subsequently asked the defendants who were students to identify themselves, prompting four of them to stand.
The Magistrate explained that he was reluctant to send students to prison because, in his view, they are the leaders of tomorrow. However, he said he wanted to test their academic knowledge before deciding whether to discharge them, as he was not convinced that everyone claiming to be a student was genuinely attending school.
He told the students that those who successfully answered his questions would be cautioned and discharged, while those who failed would be sentenced accordingly.
The second accused, Ibrahim Sorie Kanu, told the court that he was an SS3 Arts student. When Magistrate Jah asked him to explain the meaning of government, he was unable to provide an answer.
The seventh accused, Haja N’mah Koroma, an SS3 Science student, was asked to explain the meaning of an atom. She successfully answered the question.
The eighth accused, Zainab Sesay, an SS2 Science student, was asked to spell “Calaba Town” and “police station”, which she successfully did.
The 17th accused, Abdulia Bah, who said he was a JSS 2 student, was asked to spell the word “guilty” and correctly did so.
Following the test, Magistrate Jah cautioned and discharged the three students who successfully answered his questions.
However, Defence Counsel Maddieu Sesay made a further plea on behalf of Ibrahim Sorie Kanu. Counsel presented the court with a photograph of Kanu wearing his school uniform, in an effort to demonstrate that he was genuinely a student.
Despite the further plea, Magistrate Jah sentenced Kanu and the remaining defendants to pay a fine of Le2, 500 each to the State.