For sexual abuse and death of 9-year-old
July 13, 2015 By Patrick Jaiah Kamara
Justice Allan B. Halloway last Friday slammed a rigid 20 years jail term on one Foday Kamara who was convicted for the offence of manslaughter.
According to state prosecutor N.E.B. Davies, the convict had unlawfully killed a 9-year-old girl at Waterloo on June 28, 2013, after he sexually abused the toddler.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Halloway said the prosecution summoned three witnesses to prove their case, including public pathologist Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma, who told the court that the deceased was healthy prior to the incident. The pathologist is reported to have told the court that the 9-year-old girl was sexually abused before she sustained a blunt injury to the neck, which caused her premature death.
“There was no pre-existing disease, the victim was manually strangulated and sexually abused and assaulted. She had sustained spinal cord injury leading to neurogenic shock, which led to her sudden death,” the pathologist is quoted by the learned trial judge to have testified in March this year.
The judge told the court that he was satisfied the prosecution had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused person. He said: “This court holds the view that from the entirety of the evidence presented herein, the prosecution has proved all the elements in this case which they are so required to prove against the accused person beyond all reasonable doubt. Having discharged their burden of proof of guilt of the said accused person, I thus find him guilty of the offence of manslaughter contrary to the laws of Sierra Leone,” Justice Halloway ruled.
The convict, who was not represented by a lawyer, pleaded that the judge be lenient with him by ordering a custodial sentence.
His plea may have been heard as he was given a 20 years sentence instead of the death penalty.