August 9, 2021
By Audrey John
Prosecution witness number one has testified in the alleged murder matter that took place at Guma Gate, hill station.
Saidu Sheriff has narrated how his fellow bike rider Kebbie sawanneh was murdered.
All four accused persons are before magistrate Sahr Kekura of Pademba Road Court No 1, for Preliminary Investigation on two count charges of conspiracy to commit murder and murder
The witness Saidu Sheriff recognized the accused persons in the dock as bike riders and recalled the 22nd April, 2021.
He said he was at the park with his bike and was asked to contribute for the funeral of a rider`s mother who passed away.
The witness said he enquired from their PRO as to how much they have collected and he responded that he has the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand Leone and they proceeded to the house of the deceased to pay respect.
He said when they return back to the park, the deceased Kebbi sawanneh asked him to advice first accused to stop interfering in his matter.
“I asked the first accused what went wrong and he said they never had an issue”, the witness stated.
Explaining further, the witness said he warned first accused to keep the peace and stay off from the deceased.
He said he was on the other side of the street when he heard them quarrelling.
“I crossed over and to my surprise saw first accused covered with blood”, the witness stated
The witness went on to explain that he enquired what transpired between them and later advised the first accused to go and report the matter to the police.
He said few minutes later, he saw the PRO, David coming with the accused and he advised him to go to the police but to no avail.
He narrated that the PRO threw the deceased on the floor, the second, third and fourth accused started hitting and at the same time questioning him as to why he wounded first accused.
“I tried to separate them but to no avail, as tension rises i shouted for police assistant”, he explained.
In continuation of his testimony, the witness said he told the deceased to get up from the floor in order to escort him to the police when first accused surfaced from behind and hit him with a stick on his head. He said the deceased dropped on the floor and on seeing that he ordered for first accused to be arrested and in the process the police intervene.
He said because of the way blood was oozing from the head of the deceased, the police asked them to go to Regent police station. The witness said he was instructed to take the deceased to the Regent hospital for treatment.
Proceeded with the evidence, he said situation get worse for the deceased and he was conveyed to the 34 Military hospital for further treatment.
“At the hospital, I was monitoring the situation of both first accused and the deceased,” he stated in a cold mood.
He said in the morning hours, he went and informed the police that the deceased was in bad condition and in the interim the police asked him about those who ganged up to manhandled the deceased.
The eye witness said he went back to the hospital where the doctor told him that the deceased head need to be scanned.
“We took him for scanning to ECO Med and later to Chothriam hospital where he gave up the ghost “, he stated sadly.
“I ran back to the police station and informed them about the lost”, He said.
On reaching that point, the Bench adjourned the matter to 10th August 2021, for continuation of the witness testimony