By Denis Kargbo
Magistrate Aaron Bangura of the Port Loko Magistrate Court on Monday 10th June 2024 remanded to the Port Loko Correctional Center one Abu Bakarr Kamara, an OSD police officer who was before the court on a single count of murder, contrary to law.
Particulars of offense is that the accused Abu Bakarr Kamara on Friday May 10 at No. 7 Kambia Highway, Port Loko city of the Northwest region of the Republic of Sierra Leone, murdered Alusine Kamara.
First prosecution witness, Pa Adikalie Bangura, who identified himself as the headman of the Momoya section, the alleged crime scene, said he knows the accused as a police officer who lives in his jurisdiction.
Making his testimony before the court, the witness explained that the very evening on Friday May 10th, as he was seated at home, he saw one Alpha who came and called him that they heard two gunshots coming from a nearby building.
He added that, without wasting time, he joined Alpha and that both of them went straight to the place where they met a lot of people and a TVS brand Motorcycle at the back of the building, further stating that he then knocked the back door of the building and the accused from inside the building asked who was knocking the door and he answered and identified himself to the accused as the headman. The accused immediately opened the door.
He continued that he immediately interrogated the accused about the gunshots. He said the accused admitted to him that the gunshots came as a result of him cleaning his riffle and not aware that there were two bullets already inside the rifle. The accused then led him in his room and showed him the rifle.
The witness further went on to tell the court that, looking up the sealing of the room, he saw a hole which he suspected to be a bullet hole. He then asked the accused to open the other room that was closed inside the same house which the accused identified as his wife’s room who had gone for a nursing course in Kambia.
Furthermore, according to witness, he was advised by bystanders to call the police. He then asked Abass to aid him in that aspect.
Later on, two police officers came to the scene and interrogated the accused. The accused told them the same story he explained earlier to the witness.
The witness told the court that himself together with the two policemen forced the accused to open the locked door and it was in that process that the accused escaped and hid himself in the master bedroom inside the same house covering himself with a thick blanket. So they swiftly went in search of him and discovered him and handed him over to the police and two other senior police officers who later came to the scene.
The witness further testified that one of the officers forcefully opened the locked door where they found the deceased Alusine Kamara with bullet wounds across his chest and a small towel covering his neck with a big cut across the neck bleeding profusely.
The witness then concluded that the accused was then taking away from the scene by the police and the deceased was taken by the police.
In court, the accused was dressed in a black sleeveless vest and a thick brown short.
The prosecution team was led by Supt I. T Bangura Esq., DSP Mbaimba Sillah and Insp. Sam F Bangura. Nobody represented the accused.
The matter has been adjourned for Friday 14 June 2024.
Copyright –Published in print in Expo Times Newspaper on Wednesday, June 12th , 2024 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
