By: Audrey Raymonda John
A seven years old boy has narrated how his grandfather killed his grandmother
The accused Sulaiman Conteh is before magistrate Sahr Kekura of Ross Road Court No.1 for preliminary investigation after police investigation for allegedly killing his sister Isha Saidu Hughes, formerly working at the correctional center.
Led in evidence by Assistant Superintendent of police MB Conteh , after taking the oath on the holy Bible, the third prosecution witness, seven years, residing at No. 6 Savage Street Wellington know the deceased Isha Saidu Hughes as his grandmother and the accused as his grandfather.
He said on Friday 14th July 2023, he was with his sister prosecution witness number two at the parlor when the accused went and knocked the room door of his grandmother the deceased.
The seven years old further narrated that as soon as the deceased open the door, the accused attacked her and started hitting her with an iron. The witness said the deceased was shouting “Brother I beg”, but he was still hitting her.
The little boy said he went with his sister in the room of the deceased and the deceased managed to escape and ran into the bathroom where the accused followed her.
The little boy said he said his sister where outside peeping when the accused grabbed and stabbed the deceased.
Explaining in a cold tone, the little boy said they went and slept and in the morning the incident went viral and his aunt Zainab called his uncle Mohamed to come with police. He said when the police arrived they met his grandmother at the bathroom with blood covering her body, and a carpenter was called to break the kitchen door where the accused was sitting with blood also. He said he was later taken to the police station to make a statement.
At the end of his examination in chief, the accused said he did not have any question for the little boy because he just a grandson.
Taking the witness stand the fourth prosecution witness, Detective Police Sergeant 10641 Ibrahim Kamara attached to the Criminal Investigation Department Kissy Police as crime scene officer.
He said as crime scene offer, he is responsible to visit all crime scenes matter reported at the station, take photographs together with exhibits and tendered same in court when necessary.
He said on the 14th he was at the station when informed about an alleged murder which took place at No. 6a Savage Street Wellington in Freetown.
He said the investing officer and his team left for the crime scene which contained two parlors, two rooms, kitchen and a store.
Explaining further the witness said at the scene they met the accused at the first parlor lying down dumb with a towel wrapping round his stomach.
The witness said the police took him immediately to Connaught hospital for treatment. Moving to the store, the witness said he met the deceased Isha Saidu Hughes lying half naked on the floor with blood all over her body covered with a frame.
The witness said the investigator called her name but she never responded. He said he took his Nikom digital camera and took snap shot of the deceased.
Looking around, the witness said at the kitchen he saw a big hammer, cutlass and knife all stained with blood, which he took snap shot of, collected them as exhibits.
He said the remains of Isha Saidu Hughes was conveyed to mortuary.
The witness said on the 24th July 2023 himself, the investing officer, the family of the deceased witness the Autopsy examination conducted on the deceased by Doctor Owizz Koroma at Connaught hospital. He said he uses his Samsung galaxy AO2 mobile phone to take snap of the process. The witness said on the 25th July 2023, he took the memory card and his mobile phone to a studio select the photos and print the pictures and since then they have been in his custody.
The witness produced the Nikom camera he used to take the photos at the crime scene as exhibit D, the Samsung galaxy AO2 mobile phone he used to take photos during the postmortem examination as exhibit E and the printed photographs of the crime scene and postmortem as exhibits F one to eight.
At the conclusion, the unrepresented accused said he has no question for the witness.
In that light, magistrate Kekura adjourned the matter to the 22nd of August 2023.