A US Chief Judge at the Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court in Virginia, early April, ordered a DNA test to be conducted on two adults – claiming to be the biological parents of a 14 year-old Sierra Leonean girl, Isatu Jalloh, currently residing in New York.
Judge Constance H. Frogale, in court papers ordered that: “the alleged mother, Salamatu Kamara Jalloh and putative father, Abu Bakarr Jalloh, and the above child shall submit two scientifically reliable genetic tests at a medical facility mutually agreeable to the parties for the purpose of drawing blood to be used to determine the paternity of the child.”
On February 3, Abu Bangura – claiming to be the child’s step father from his marriage with a deceased woman – Marie Koroma, listed in court papers then as the biological mother of the minor child – made a sworn petition for custody and visitation determination between himself and the putative father, Abu Bakarr Jalloh. At a status hearing in March, both Messrs Bangura and Jalloh told the court that Marie Koroma is the child’s mother and upon her death, the minor child continued to live with Bangura in Alexandria.
Ellen Dague, a court appointed lawyer for the minor child, specifically instructed Bangura at the status hearing for the minor child to be present when she visits the home. But surprisingly, the child was nowhere to be found when the lawyer visited the home and was told by Mr. Bangura that she had traveled to New York with an aunt for the weekend and will be back at the conclusion of the weekend.
According to Ms. Dague in court papers, when she inspected the two bed room apartment of Mr. Bangura, there was a master bedroom with a king-sized bed and an empty second bedroom with no furniture but trash and debris littered on the floor. Abu Bangura further told the lawyer that the child attends at Minnie Howard school in Virginia. When Ellen Dague attempted to interview the child at school, school officials informed her that the minor child has been withdrawn from school since early January, 2009 and now attends in another school in New York – contradicting earlier statements in court by both Abu Bangura and Abu Bakarr Jalloh that the minor child resides in the home ever since her alleged mother died.
Dague reported that she tried on numerous occasions to try and schedule a meeting with the minor child but to no avail as both Mr. Jalloh and Mr. Bangura will not produce the child. Apparently frustrated by the lack of cooperation from both men to produce the minor child, Ellen Dague filed another motion asking the court to order a meeting between Ellen Dague and the minor child – the court agreed and ordered same. In a nearby school playground Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 09:30 a.m. at Abu Bangura’s apartment complex in Alexandria, Ellen Dague and this reporter meets with the minor child.
Ms. Dague handed the child a photo of her supposed dead mother. The child immediately identified the woman as Marie Koroma – her mother. This reporter then asked the child: “Were your parents marry to each other?” She replied, “yes.” “Why is your mother’s last name different from you father?” the reporter enquired.
The minor child then said : “I am confused!” She stated that she only refers to Marie Koroma as mother because that’s what she was told to call her -but in actuality, Ms. Koroma was her aunt. With this information, the meeting was concluded as Ms Dague walked the child back to Mr. Bangura’s home.
Further investigations in Freetown, Sierra Leone by well placed immigration and vital statics department sources, revealed that the birth certificate of the minor child was bogus. Both the page and volume numbers of the birth certificate did not marched the records contained in the official births register in Freetown – in fact, a male child with a different name was registered in that official page of the registry. Also, the hospital center listed in the birth certificate as the place of the child’s birth, do not have records of her birth there. A further immigration records investigation lead to a Salamatu Jalloh as the biological mother of the minor child. But as peculiarly coincidental as it may seem, sources in Freetown spoke on the phone and arranged a meeting with Salamatu Jalloh – residing in the eastern part of the city – at the same time Ellen Dague was establishing the existence of another Salamatu Kamara Jalloh in North Carolina, USA
Sources in Freetown were not able to meet with Salamatu Jalloh – who was reported to have bailed out of her apartment half an hour before the arranged meeting. Several attempts were made to reach her but her whereabouts were unknown as she had abandoned her home. Salamatu Kamara Jalloh from North Carolina was present in court during the April hearing, claiming to be the biological mother of the minor child, and was ordered to take the DNA test.
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