Victim concludes testimony
July 4, 2018
By Hassan Gbassay Koroma
Embarrassing! Herbert Williams in court for political violence
Patrick Jaiah Kamara, a reporter at Concord Times who was brutally beaten up by a group of goons of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC), yesterday continued his examination-in-chief at the Freetown Magistrate Court No. 1.
In his testimony, Patrick narrated that on the day of the incident, Sanusi Bruski ordered his thugs to violently search him and took away some of his property.
“After they took away and destroyed my Canon EOS70D camera, Sanusi Bruski ordered his thugs to violently search me. They searched me and took away my Roland R-26 recorder and also took away my money amounting to over two hundred thousand Leones. They also tore my shirt and underwear into pieces,” he narrated.
Herbert Williams, who doubles as the Western Area Regional Organising Secretary for the APC, is going through preliminary investigation on three counts of conspiracy to commit a felony to wit assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious damage contrary to the laws of Sierra Leone.
In count three, the prosecution alleges that the accused had damaged a Canon EOS70D camera that was in the possession of the journalist on Saturday, March 31st at Mafa Field, Lumley, in Freetown, adding that he conspired with other unknown persons to assault Patrick Jaiah Kamara while performing his duty as a journalist.
On Thursday, 21st June, the young journalist started testifying and narrated that the disgraced former Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Herbert George Williams, held his Canon EOS70D camera that cost $3,500, broke it lens and took it along with him.
Continuing from where he stopped on the last adjourned date, Patrick yesterday narrated that after Herbert George Williams broke and took away the lens of the camera, Sanusi Bruski took the body of the camera with him.
He continued that his Editor, Abu-Bakarr Sheriff, went after Sanusi Bruski and retrieved the body of the camera, but the latter took away the 64GB memory card with him.
He said he later went to the Lumley Police Station to report the matter and that a police medical form was issued to him, following which he went to Connaught Hospital and received first aid treatment.
The matter was adjourned to 13th July.