By Saio Marrah
Justice Monfred Sesay has sentenced one Mohamed Johnson to forty-five years in jail after jurors found him guilty on two counts, conspiracy and murder. Johnson, 31, was sentenced to five years on the first of conspiracy and 45 five years on count two, murder. Both sentences will run concurrently.
The convict was sentenced along with Aiah Komba and Kalilu Fofanah who were found guilty on the count of conspiracy to murder the deceased, Kai Osman Fengai. The 47-year-old second convict was sentenced to 10 years, while the 60-year-old third convict was slammed with five years.
Justice Sesay issued a warrant for the arrest of the fourth accused, Victor Kellie, who jumped bail during the trial. The fifth accused, Ishmael Charles was set free after the 10-person jury found him not guilty on both two counts.
Before pronouncing his sentence, Justice Sesay described the death of Fengai as a loss to his family, the community, and the country as a whole because “no one knows what the deceased would have been in society”.
He told the convicts that the politicians for whom they committed the offence never stood with them during the trial.
After pointing out that it was legal for everyone to belong to any political party of their choice, Justice Sesay also noted that people have a right to switch from one political party to another without any hindrance, “so why should you kill? I hope this will teach you and other people a lesson”.
He said: “Kai Osman Fengai is dead, killed by the first convict because he [the deceased] left a political party for another.”
Addressing the 60-year-old third convict, who, the court was told, lost his elder brother, sister, and wife during the trial, the judge noted that the man was stressed up because his family had suffered during his absence. He said a crime could not go unpunished. “At 60 years of age, you ought to have known better”.
Earlier in his summing up, the judge said the evidence revealed that the stabbing by the first convict happened as a result of self-defence but noted that the means of self-defenCe was not proportionate. He said the weapon used should have been equal to that which the deceased used to attack him.
According to the evidence before the court, the stabbing took place on 20 April 2021 at Bona Street in Koidu City, Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone.
A confrontation occurred between supporters of Coalition for Change party members who had broken away from their party to join the All Peoples Congress (APC) party and the Sierra Leone Peoples Party(SLPP). The convicts joined the APC. The deceased were accused of betraying Chief Sam Sumana and the people of Kono by joining the SLPP.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (06/10/23)
