December 17, 2018
By Ibrahim K.Turay
A Class Six pupil, aged 14, has narrated in the Freetown High Court presided over by Justice Momoh Jah Stevens how she was allegedly sexually penetrated by Sallieu Conteh, 45.
The accused, who is on remand at the Freetown male correctional centre, is currently standing trial in the High Court on one count of sexual penetration contrary to section 19 of the sexual Offences Act of 2012.
State Prosecutor K. Z. Bangura, on 27th February 2017, in Freetown, the accused sexually penetrated the victim – a child below the age of eighteen years.
In her testimony, the victim identified the accused as their house help and told the court that on the day of the incident her mother left the house for work leaving her in the care of the accused.
She said that she had gone to collect some firewood from the store to prepare beans when the accused asked her to sleep with him, but she refused and the accused forcefully grabbed and had sex with her.
“I initially did not tell my mother because I was afraid that my mother will kill me if I disclosed that the accused had tampered with me,” she explained
She further testified that the accused continued having sex with her for almost two years, and that on 27th February this year, her mother sent her to buy rice and met the accused on the way, who took her to his house and also had sex with her.
She said that when she went home she told her mother everything that had been happening between her and the accused, and together with her mother they went to the police and made a statement.
The matter was adjourned to 17 January, 2019.