Justice Komba Kamanda of the High Court in Freetown has sentenced Ibrahim Kamara and Morlai Sesay to 30 years imprisonment each for robbing the Minister of Defence and his wife at their OAU village residence.
Justice Kamanda handed down this sentence after both accused immediately changed their pleas of not guilty to guilty when the Minister of Defence’s wife was about to testify.
Ibrahim Kamara and Morlai Sesay were charged with conspiracy and robbery with aggravation by the police among other charges.
Both convicts on 30th October 2016 at 47 OAU Village, Hill Station were armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons robbed the Minister of Defence, Retired Brigadier Kelly Hassan Conteh, and his wife, Fatmata Nanah Conteh.
According to the court records, the duo vandalised the premises and carted away properties such as gold chains, wrist watches, Lenovo, Dell and Toshiba laptops among others valued at millions of Leones.
Both convicts told the judge they were remorseful for their action who had changed to being better persons in the society, and promised to desist from all forms of criminal activity.
Briefing the court on how they suffered at the hands of the two convicts and the others on the run, Mrs. Conteh said they were sleeping that night when she heard voices, which woke her up, for which she decided to open the door and check where they (voices) were coming from.
Immediately after opening the door, she said one of the robbers shouted at her, which forced her to run inside and lock the door. She added that the convicts chased her, broke the door and entered the house.
She narrated that Ibrahim Kamara kicked her on her side, and used his machete to hit her several times.
Her cries woke her husband, Kelly Conteh. She underscored that the robbers dragged her husband out of the house, hit him severally times with their machetes and other dangerous tools and almost wanted to kill him. But due to the tip they got of approaching military officers, they left the scene in a hurry.
Justice Komba Kamanda later sentenced Ibrahim Kamara and Morlai Sesay to ten years each for the three count charges.
According to the judge, the sentence should run consecutively.
MB/11/02/2021