By: Audrey Raymonda John
Justice Alfred Ganda of the High Court in Freetown has sentenced Robert Moiforay to one year in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of larceny involving the theft of a Techno smartphone and an analogue phone. The sentence includes the three months Moiforay had already spent on remand.
In delivering his judgment, Justice Ganda said the court had considered several factors, including the seriousness of the offence, the fact that the accused did not waste the court’s time, and that he was a first-time offender. The judge also acknowledged that the convict, through his lawyer C. Taylor-Young, had pleaded for mercy and shown remorse.
The judge further noted that if there had been credible evidence proving that the stolen mobile phones had been returned to the complainant, it would have positively influenced the outcome.
Lead state prosecutor Yusuf Isaac Sesay informed the court that the incident occurred when the accused was sent by the complainant to fetch water using four jerry cans. After delivering the first two cans to the complainant’s compound, Moiforay noticed that a room was open. Upon returning with the last two cans, he entered the room and stole two mobile phones valued at NLe 3,000.
The phones were later given to a man known as Alias Bluff Man, a driver at Falcon Bridge, where Moiforay was eventually arrested. The prosecutor said that together with the community chairman, efforts were made to locate Alias Bluff Man, but he was nowhere to be found.
Moiforay and the chairman reportedly promised the complainant that the phones would be retrieved from Alias Bluff Man and returned by June 2, 2025, but the complainant never received them and subsequently reported the matter to the police.
In court, the convict claimed the phones were eventually returned to the complainant. However, the state prosecutor refuted this claim, stating that there was no evidence to support it. He noted that the entire explanation was part of the convict’s statement to the police.
Prosecutor Sesay also told the court that given the severity of the offence, the sentence could have ranged between one and fourteen years under the law.
This case was among the 75 matters listed during the September 2025 criminal session, which was earlier opened by Chief Justice Komba Kamanda.