By: Audrey Raymonda John
The alleged theft case involving two businessmen, Abdul Jabba Mansaray and Joseph Bellon, has continued before Magistrate John Manso Fornah at Pademba Road Court No. 2 in Freetown. The accused persons appeared on Monday, 1 June 2026, facing five-count charges ranging from conspiracy, larceny, obtaining money by false pretences, and receiving stolen goods, all contrary to the Larceny Act, 1916.
The charges include conspiracy contrary to law, larceny contrary to Section 2 of the Larceny Act, 1916, obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 32(1) of the Larceny Act, 1916, and receiving stolen goods contrary to Section 33(1) of the same Act.
According to the charge sheet, the first accused, Abdul Jabba Mansaray, on 13 January 2026 at No. 3 Bathurst Street, Freetown, allegedly conspired with other persons unknown to commit a crime, specifically larceny.
The second count alleges that Mansaray, on the same date and location, stole a Vivid IQ Echo Machine valued at thirty-seven thousand one hundred United States dollars (US$37,100), property of Professor Dr. James Russell.
Counts three and four further allege that on 28 and 29 January 2026 at No. 3 Bathurst Street, Freetown, Mansaray obtained money by false pretences through Orange Money transactions. It is alleged that he received Le2,500 from Fatmata Jullet Nicolls and Le1,015 from George Russell under the pretext that the money would be used as transport fare to enable him to produce the stolen Vivid IQ Echo Machine, knowing the claims to be false.
The fifth count alleges that the second accused, Joseph Bellon, between 13 January and 28 January 2026 at Kossoh Town, Freetown, received the Vivid IQ Echo Machine valued at US$37,100 from Mansaray, knowing it to have been stolen property belonging to Professor Dr. James Russell.
When the charges were read and explained to the accused persons, no plea was taken.
Prosecutor Y.I. Sesay, Esq., led prosecution witness number five, Ibrahim Sorie Kamara, a Detective Police Constable attached to the Cyber Laboratory and Scientific Support Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, Pademba Road. Kamara told the court that he works as a Cyber System Analyst responsible for examining, extracting, and analysing data from electronic devices.
The witness recalled that on 2 February 2026, they received a correspondence from Detective Superintendent P.K.S. MacMillan, Head of the Operations Unit at CID Headquarters, requesting subscriber details, call history, site locations, and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) traces for mobile numbers 072686227, 075550341, and 073093141. The request was admitted in court as Exhibit O.
Kamara further explained that, based on the request, they contacted the Chief Executive Officer of Orange Sierra Leone at 25 Regent Road, Hill Station, Freetown, seeking information on the IMEI numbers, site locations, and Know Your Customer (KYC) details linked to the three mobile numbers. The response from Orange Sierra Leone was later produced and tendered as Exhibit V.
He said they subsequently forwarded another request to the Director General of the National Communications Authority (NaTCA) for further tracing of the numbers and received a response on 2 March 2026, which was admitted as Exhibit W.
The witness told the court that their analysis identified four Africell numbers—088375303, 033801679, 077379221, and 080451478 linked to the investigation. He added that two of the numbers were traced to Moyamba.
Kamara also informed the court that during the arrest of the first accused, Mansaray allegedly destroyed his Samsung Galaxy A15 mobile phone. He said photographs of the damaged phone were taken using a Tecno Spark 20 device and printed copies were presented in court as Exhibits X1 and X2.
The witness further stated that WhatsApp conversations between Mansaray and prosecution witness number one were extracted from the Samsung Galaxy A15 phone. He said the extracted messages were preserved on a flash drive and compared with screenshots provided by the witness, which were found to contain the same information.
The WhatsApp screenshots were tendered as Exhibits CC1-15, the flash drive containing the conversations as Exhibit DD1, and the transcript of an audio recording between Mansaray and the witness as Exhibit EE1-20.
The prosecution requested another date for the audio messages to be played in court.
Defence counsel A.B. Sesay, representing the first accused, and C. Campbell, representing the second accused, applied and adopted their previous bail application.
However, Magistrate Fornah refused bail, citing the seriousness of the offences before the court. The matter was adjourned to 27 July 2026 for further proceedings