By Hassan Bruz
Northern Bureau Chief
The call for a speedy trial and public execution of all those that would be found guilty in the ongoing trials of armed robbers in the District, does not only come from relatives of victims of these brutal killings , but has also been widely supported by every peace loving person in the North/ Western Region.
This is largely because the inhabitants of this Region have been subjected to constant fear that these robbers can hit anywhere and at anytime. The overriding fear is that even those already charged with Murder and other capital Offences do not show any form of remorse.
The corresponding perception is that they are only on a mere formality. People are of the opinion that the Accused Persons would surely come out unpunished and will shortly come back in Society to commit many more atrocities.
One may therefore wonder what has befallen this country, looking at the escalating and serious crimes committed by very young people who are supposed to be the future leaders. It is inconceivable to know that there are over 5 recorded Murder Cases in Port Loko District alone in the last 3 months. The most recent incident of these brutal killings occurred barely 48 hours ago at Simbeck- along the Port Loko/Mange Bureh Highway, in which a Commercial Motorbike Rider was stabbed to death. Just the week before, another Commercial Motorbike rider was butchered about 2 kilometres to his village. The Motorbikes of each of these perished Riders were carted away by the Robbers.
Apart from this the most recent armed robbery in which Police is yet to come up with a suspect, quite a good number of people have been implicated and arrested in respect of the other atrocities.
As at now, 17 Accused Persons have been charged and arraigned at the various Magistrate Courts in the District. Some of the cases that were put on hold -up charges have now been properly fixed to ensure that the Trials commenced without further delay.
At the Lungi Magistrate Court, where 3 of these murder matters have commenced, 8 Accused Persons are standing trial for the death of Madam Haja Humu Jalloh who died shortly after some Armed Robbers had stormed her Residence. These are Mohamed Kabba aka ‘Sisco’, Ibrahim Conteh aka Warloof’, Alhajie Yusif Sankoh aka’ Pawpaw’, Alhajie Kamara aka ‘Bomba-Lai’[All these were rounded up in Waterloo], Alpha Yayah Wurie, Alimamy Kargbo aka ‘Catch fire’, Santigie Mansaray [Arrested at Tagrin /Lungi] and Mohamed Jalloh aka ‘Ezekiel’. He was arrested in Freetown he was being interrogated for another murder case.
They were arraigned before Mr. Edwin George of the Magistrate Court in Lungi – Mariama Bangura- a 10 year old girl was the first to Prosecuting Witness in the matter of Haja Humu Jalloh, who died after some Armed Robbers had attacked her residence. The witness said she is a class 3 Pupil and was at home when the Robbers stormed the house on that fatal night. She recognised the 3th Accused Person- Alpha Yayah Wurrie as a man that used to visit the late woman and had personally seen him in their house twice. The Witness said Haja Humu Jalloh is her grandmother and was under her care. She explained how she surrendered her school bag when instructed by the Robbers before the 3rd. Accused –Alpha Yayah Wurrie led them to the bed room of her grandmother now desceased.
She said the robbers instructed the woman to give them the safe key which was collected by the 3rd Accused. She said the money, jewelleries and other properties were removed form it before they started beating the woman. The witness said the Robbers then dragged her grandmother to the pallor and dropped her before they left the compound. She said it was after the Robbers had left when her brother and the women in another apartment of the compound went to call for help. One Military Officer came and helped to convey the woman to a hospital in Lungi. They later returned and said my grandmother is dead. The body was buried in a village called ‘Worreh village’ and I have since not seen her- the witness ended her testimony as the matter was adjourned to 20th October 2016.
The people of Port Loko are hereby calling on all those concern especially the Attorney General and Minister of Justice whose photo is affixed below, for a speedy trial of these murder related matters and for all those that would be found guilty to be executed in the full view of the general public. This is believed to be the only way through which the escalating rate of these horrifying killings could be minimised and the sure way to restore confidence in the security of this Region…..
