By Emma Black

Two brothers Patrick Ansumana, 36, a driver, and Samuel Ansumana, 19, a student stood before Magistrate Santigie Bangura at Pademba Road Court No. 2, facing grim charges of housebreaking, theft, and receiving stolen goods, their alleged accomplice, 45-year-old stone miner Foday Fornah, was a no-show, sparking a warrant for his arrest.

The trio faces three counts under the Larceny Act of 1916: conspiracy, housebreaking with larceny, and handling stolen property, prosecutors say that on January 3, 2025, they teamed up with unknown others to raid Bintu Sankoh’s home at ya-Marie Drive, Hill Station, in Freetown’s Mountain Rural District, the haul Le170,000, $700 USD, and assorted items total value Le238,610 swiped after busting into her residence.

The third charge stings knowingly pocketing goods they knew were hot, this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment grab, said Deputy Superintendent Sorie Conteh, leading the prosecution, it was planned.

Fornah’s absence lit a fuse. Conteh swiftly demanded a bench warrant, and Magistrate Bangura didn’t blink Fornah’s now a wanted man, the Ansumana brothers, represented by J.T. Mansaray Esq., weren’t so lucky either, Bail denied. Both were ordered to cool their heels at Freetown’s Male Correctional Centre.

The case is set to heat up again on April 15, 2025, as the court digs deeper into a crime that’s rattled Hill Station’s quiet streets. For now, two brothers sit behind bars, a miner on the run, and a community waits for justice.