By Saio Marrah
A prosecution witness, in the ongoing Preliminary Investigation into an alleged attack on the Gateway Evangelistic Ministry Church, has testified at Freetown Magistrate court that he cried when he saw a bible burning when the facility was attacked.
Testifying before Magistrate Mark Ngegba on Friday 20th October, Emmanuel Komba Banga, a pastor in training at the church, said he recognized all the eight accused persons during the incident and that on that day, he was in the church compound with other church members (ministers) cleaning the place as that day - Sunday 24th September this year was their youth thanksgiving day.
He said there were two computers, four plasma TV sets, two big cameras, an electronic keyboard, and a speaker.
The second prosecution witness said when they started cleaning the church compound a sister of the first accused, Alpha Bangura, came to the church compound, used abusive language against them (church members), and left. He said immediately after that they saw the first accused and three other people around him, followed by a crowd advancing toward the church.
He told the court that the first accused held a car tyre in hand with two of the three people around the first accused also holding tyres with one carrying a gallon. He said among the crowd, some people carried stones and sticks with the first accused announcing that he wanted to burn the church.
According to the witness, the first accused immediately placed the tyre at the door of the church poured something from the gallon on it, and set it ablaze. He said he realized that the liquid was petrol from its smell. The first accused then commanded the crowd (boys) to stone and burn the church while using abusive language against church members present.
The witness said the seventh accused, Issa Bangura, and two others, who were not in court at the time of his testimony, started throwing missiles at the church while saying they wanted to cut off the head of the pastor of the church.
According to the witness he was hiding in a corner while filming the incident, but he did not complete the filming because the attackers were throwing missiles continuously.
According to the witness he had cause to jump over a fence for his safety until he heard that police had arrived at the scene and heard discharged tear gas and the attackers had dispersed into the neighborhood.
He said when he returned to the compound he saw all the glass windows of the church smashed and that he also went inside the church where he saw a lot of sticks and stones but no bible at the altar and the two computers were missing.
The witness said he also saw three of the four plasma TV sets broken with a stick stuck in one of them.
Witness Banga said outside the church building he saw one of his colleagues - Joseph Komba, with a stab on his hand with blood oozing.
He said military personnel arrested the first accused and handed him over to the police.
45-year-old Alpha Bangura and seven others are charged with seven counts of conspiracy, sacrilege, attempted arson, malicious damage, throwing a missile, riotous conduct, and disorderly behavior.
The investigation resumes on Wednesday 25th October this year.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (20/10/23)
