2 dead, 3 discharged for want of evidence
October 23, 2015 By Hassan Gbassay Koroma
Justice Abdulai Charm of the Freetown High Court yesterday discharged five accused persons arraigned on the offences of robbery with aggravation and unlawful possession of small arms, after having served six years on remand at the Male Correctional Centre at Pademba Road in Freetown.
The discharged persons are Sonny Brainerd, Alpha Yayah Wurie, Mohamed Kabba, Ishmael Deen Mansaray and Mohamed Bayoh Bangura.
The judge was informed though that two of two accused persons, Ishmael Deen Mansaray and Mohamed Bayoh Bangura, had died while awaiting trial.
The prosecution had alleged that the accused on 30 September, 2009 robbed one Horish Satwanie under gun point and made away with the sum of Le2.5 million and one Nokia phone which cost Le200,000.
Justice Charm noted that the matter was charged to the Magistrate Court on 8 September, 2009 and committed to the High Court on 10 May, 2013, and that the accused had since been on remand although no witness testified in the matter in court.
“Inasmuch as the offence for which the accused persons are standing trial in court is very serious, but we should also note that the accused persons have rights and since the matter came to court, nobody had come forward to testify and they had been in prison for over six years now,” he said.
He called on prison officers to take note of the accused persons as some of them might have other criminal files in other courts.