By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Magistrate Komba Kamanda of Court No. 2 in Freetown yesterday refused bail to eleven accused, all of them women, and remanded them in prison until the next adjourned date. The women, all said to be in their twenties, face six counts of loitering with intent in contravention of the Public Order Act of 1965. They were allegedly caught in various parts of Freetown over the weekend.
They all pleaded guilty.
Applying for bail on their behalf, defense counsel, Tejan Jah, pointed to the fact that the accused were all first time offenders. He urged the court to caution and discharge them “because they are young girls and have no record of ever being before this court”.
Magistrate Kamanda dismissed the application saying “if they are young girls then they should be in school, not in the streets at odd hours of the night”.
He said cautioning and discharging them was out of the question “because such things do not happen in my court as that will mean a frustration to the police effort as they arrested and charged them to court”.
The matter was adjourned to Monday 25 November, 2013.
(C) Politico 19/11/13
