Justice Bintu Alhadi of the High Court of Freetown has on Thursday16th April 2021 sentenced Samuel Yillah, Ibrahim Kamara, Hassan Turay and Alimany Kamara to ten years imprisonment each at the Male Correctional Centre for wounding one Sidique Denkeh.
Prior to yesterday’s judgment, the particulars of offence stated that the four men on diverse dates between 20th March 2016 and 23rd March 2016 in Freetown conspired with unknown persons and wounded Sidique Denkeh.
They were charged with the offences of conspiracy and wounding with intent contrary to Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 by the state.
On 26th April 2017, the charges were first put to all accused persons by the Court Registrar, which they all vehemently denied.
According to the Learned Justice, the burden of proof was the prosecution’s responsibility, who must prove their case beyond all reasonable doubt.
To achieve this, the prosecution called four witnesses including the complainant, Sidique Denkeh, and the defence also called seven witnesses to prove their innocence of the charges.
Reading the testimony of the complainant during the judgment, Justice Alhadi said the complainant was attacked with cutlasses and sticks at his building site in IMATT by the four accused he later identified.
The judge said the complainant was beaten by the accused from all angles, and ended up sustaining wounds and injuries on his body and face. He was taken to the 34 Military Hospital, and later to the Connaught Hospital for treatment after reporting the matter at the IMATT Police Station.
Justice Alhadi maintained that the complainant’s evidence was direct, which was also supported by the second prosecution witness, Saidu Sesay.
Having gone through all of the evidence and the laws in relation to the matter, the judge ended up noting that “the prosecution has proven its case beyond reasonable doubt”, as the defence has not been able to put up a valid case, rather than lying to the court.
After finding the convict wanting of the offences charged, in his plea in mitigation on behalf of all the convicts, lawyer Mamoud Sesay canvassed the judge to temper justice with mercy, as the convicts are first time offenders and have respectively learnt their lessons.
Justice Alhadi later sentenced all the convicts to 10 years imprisonment each, as a deterrence in society against violent attacks.
MJB/15/04/2021