The former security guard for Prince Harding, the Chair of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Hassan Marrah, faces two counts of Threatening Language; Public Insult and Provocation at the Pademba Road Magistrate Court in Freetown. It is alleged that the accused, on 2 July 2019, via social media platform, WhatsApp, threatened, publicly insulted and provoked Ann-Marie Harding, Prince Harding’s wife. In her evidence before Magistrate Hannah Bonnie on Tuesday 13 August 2019, Ann-Marie Harding said she listened to the WhatsApp voice message in her phone. The sender introduced himself as the accused, Marrah. She said the WhatsApp account carried the profile picture of the accused; and she was able to recognize his voice.
[membership]
The witness said, in the audio, the accused asked her to tell her husband to pay him off or they will harm her and her family. She said she did not react to the message until the accused sent it again on the 4th July 2019. She told the Court that she screenshot the WhatsApp message and copied the audio recording onto a memory stick, which she handed over to the Police. During cross-examination by the defense counsel, Morisson Karimu, the witness was asked about “montage” and the use of someone else’s profile picture on a different account and the distortion of voices through social media. The witness said she didn’t know what montage was. She also said she would not be surprised if someone else’s profile picture was used. She said she has no witness to prove that the accused himself sent her the message. She denied having any malicious intent against the accused. She denied contacting mobile operators to ascertain that the phone number belonged to the accused. The second witness, Detective Police Constable, Ibrahim Kalokoh Turay, of the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters, tendered the voluntary cautioned and charged statement of the accused. He was cross-examined by the defense counsel. Following the testimonies of the witnesses, the defense counsel applied for bail. Magistrate Bonnie admitted the accused to Le50 million bail with two sureties. The matter was adjourned to 21st August 2019.
EBD/13/8/19
By Edna Browne-Dauphine
[/membership]
[membership level=”0″]
Login or Subscribe to read the entire article
[/membership]