By: Audrey John
During cross examination, Prosecution witness number one Kabba Koulio Accountant at Pearl Hotel said he knows the accused persons in the Pearl Hotel, and his duty is to check on payment and check balances, provide invoices to guests, including the accused persons.
He also provides registration forms to guests that check into the hotel.
And the registration form has been in his custody, and the State Counsel Musa Pious Sesay Esq Jr. asked for it to be tendered. But the defense counsels looked at it for any objections, in the end there was no objection.
It was tendered and marked Exhibit H 1-2.
The witness told the Court that the registration form is provided for an agreed date for any guest who wishes to stay and they will sign after reviewing the form.
In respect of the accused persons on the 30th September, they checked in at the hotel. The witness furthered that the guests also were ordering for foods and he presented to them the bill of the food they were ordering for. The bill was tendered in Court marked Exhibit J 1-2. He also provided invoice to the accused for the accommodation which amounted to thirty three thousand dollars, and marked Exhibit K.
Sleeping in 2 bed rooms for 4 nights is two hundred and sixty dollars from the 30 September 2021 to 4th October 2021. And the accused moved to 3 bed rooms amounting to three hundred and sixty dollars per night.
After that they stay longer, and he presented invoice to the accused persons which is yearly rate for thirty three thousand dollars. Then the accused persons approached the hotel management and said they want to extend their stay, and the first accused Josie Ramos signed the agreement.
He went on to state that the management calculate the actual night spent which amounted to thirty thousand dollars. The witness ended up saying that they used electricity, accommodation and internet which the witness produced and tendered as exhibit L.
The defense counsel W Gabber Esq cross examined the witness. PW 3 Sergeant 10215 Emmanuel Lassao Jusu, attached at the CID Fraud Unit, said he recognized the accused persons, he obtained statements from all three accused and tendered it in Court to form part of the Court record.
He went to the scene and saw the accused persons were accommodated at Pearl Hotel of which each of them were occupying and admitted to him they have not pay anything according to the Police witness.
Giving his own side of the story, the first accused told the Court that as he left Spain for Sierra Leone, he arrived at Lungi Airport.
He said he later went to the Foreign Affairs ministry and declared himself because he wanted to stay for a very long time, he then went to Radisson Blu where he stayed, but someone diverted him to Pearl Hotel.
He said as he entered the Pearl Hotel he stayed there for some time.
On the 24th November 2021 the hotel management evicted him and Police from CID came and bundle him out and took him to Immigration and later to the CID and investigation was mounted against him for owing the hotel huge amount of money.
He also said for 22 days he was detained at CID and was later remanded for 52 days at the prison. Second accused Andel also testified in the docked by saying that when he was at the hotel (Pearl Hotel), he was not eating and not bathing as the Management told him they are not responsible for their feeding and bathing.
The 3rd accused told the Court that he is a Gambian, a teacher by profession and a business man by trade.
He said he later came in contact with the first accused in June 2020, and he told him to work with him for the language barrier, and he sent his ticket from Banjul to Freetown. He came to Freetown through sea coach and he was taken to Pearl Hotel.
He met the two accused at Pearl Hotel and both of them took him to room number 9, but there was no bed, and they told him to seat at the seating room where he stay for three nights.
He continued that after the 3rd night he was taken to room 10 where he had his comfort until the restaurant manager asked for payment for the food but noted that the bill was too high.
He relayed the message to the first accused and the first accused including the management met together and the first accused contacted his colleagues in Madrid. But every day the management started asking for their food money. Also the management asked for the hotel accommodation bill but they did not get the money and in November 24 2021 he was arrested together with the two accused.
But he told the Police that he was not there when they were booking, and said he did not defraud the hotel and the first accused was responsible for everything not him.
At the CID he did not have food for over 4 days, and later he joined other detainees in the cell to eat the food their relatives brought for them.
In the closing address by the defense M. Gabber Esq, said the accused are charged on three counts for conspiracy to defraud and two counts of obtaining credit, having heard the evidence before the Court, the first accused had a contract with the hotel management. He furthered in the testimony of PW1-2 that there was no intention by the 2nd and 3rd accused persons to defraud the hotel management (Pearl Hotel).
The testimony of PW1-2 also established that there was no invoice tendered in Court to substantiate the amount owed.
According to PW1-2 (accused) was pay amount owed on the 30th November 2021, and the day never reach when the Police arrested them, and the 2nd and 3rd accused are not part of any agreement within them and the hotel management.
The defense counsel went on in his address that the 2nd and 3rd accused are workers and been that they are not part of the agreement, he prayed that he acquit them, and based on the evidence adduced the Prosecution has used a wrong vehicle to prosecute the matter.
He further that the hotel should have use civil action for recovery since the 1st accused did not denied the payment of the money.
Musa Pious Sesay Jr Esq. also addressed the court that there is evidence before the Court that the accused persons checked into the hotel that they ate food, made use of the internet, also they told the Pearl hotel Management that they are diplomats.
He went on to say the contract came after 11 days and told the management that they intend to stay for a very long time, also Prosecution witness number two told the Court that it is normal to ask for payment.
And they made it clear to the management that they will stay for a year which invoices were tendered to show that they have accumulated huge amounts.
He submitted that the 2nd and the 3rd accused had knowledge of the company and they were part of it as the 1st accused told them he wants to invest in Sierra Leone so they are part of the agreement with the hotel.
The Prosecution also said the defense told the Court that no total figure was presented in the Court, and no invoices were tendered.
He ended up saying that Pursuant to the testimony of Prosecution witness number two they did their own investigation and they owed Pearl Management by defrauding and the bench must convict all three accused persons.
The judge after listening to both sides (Defense/Prosecution) asked if there is anything to add.
The State Counsel M.P Sesay Esq told the Court that the representative of the Spanish Consul would like to pay 25% of the money, but Justice Leonard Taylor said before given his judgment both sides should hang heads.
In his judgment the accused are charged on three counts, the evidence before the court is that the first accused signed all the agreement with the hotel.
The complainant become suspicious and the complainant reported the matter which the Police charged to court.
The Prosecution has not brought any evidence against the 2nd and 3rd accused and he cannot find them guilty and they were acquitted and discharged on all three counts, conspiracy to defraud, obtaining credit by false pretenses and obtaining credit by fraud. The first accused was found guilty on one count of obtaining credit by fraud other than false pretenses. The defense counsel Walter Gabber Esq pleaded on behalf of the 1st accused for the judge to temper justice with mercy.
Justice Leonard Taylor sentenced the 1st accused to 9 months and to compensated the hotel the sum of fifteen thousand dollars.