By Saio Marah
A police prosecution witness, Detective Constable Sheku Turay has admitted in court that he ignored remarks threatening the life of a complainant, Major Amadu Kargbo by not investigating the issue.
The allegation was made by the 21-year-old accused, Safinatu Sesay who said in her cautionary statement to police that she published the photo and information of the complainant on social media because she wanted the public to know that the complainant had threatened to take her life when she (accused) return to Sierra Leone from Holland. She further noted in the statement that the complainant was also harbouring her younger sister.
That section of the statement was read out by the police witness at the Pademba Road Magistrates Court on Monday 9th October 2023, after Lawyer Elvis T. Enoh representing the accused asked him to read it out.
Lawyer Enoh earlier asked the witness whether he as an investigator works for the complainant or the accused. His response was “for both accused and complainant.”
Responding to a question on whether he investigates people or crime, Turay responded by saying; he investigates crimes committed by persons.
Asked whether it was of interest to the police to investigate an allegation made by a suspect, Turay said it depended on the statement made by the suspect.
The police witness also told the court that he was not aware of the complainant maltreating the sister of the accused and that he was not aware that the accused sister resided with the complainant.
Lawyer Enoh asked: “The welfare of the sister of the accused was not of interest to you?” The witness replied: “I was not investigating that”.
Again the Lawyer asked: “Is it not of interest to you as a police officer to investigate a child’s welfare?” Turay’s response was, “I was not in charge of investigating such, but cybercrime.”
The defence further pointed out that police did not also investigate the allegation before sending the file to the law officers' department for legal advice.
The witness had in his testimony informed the court that on the 6th August 2023, he was on duty at the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Lumley Police Station when he received a complaint of cyberbullying. He said that he obtained a statement from the complainant, who he said showed him his phone that contained SMS messages having threatening remarks.
The police witness further informed the court that the complainant further showed him a Facebook account bearing the name “Rose”. After receiving the said information, he invited the accused and obtained a Voluntary Cautionary Statement from her as well.
The court heard that on the same day, he sent the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters in Freetown for further investigation and that on the 30th of August, his boss called him to the CID headquarters, where the same case was reassigned to him.
According to him, he then charged the accused with sending insulting messages, sending false statements by means of a computer system.
The case resumes on the 18th of October this year.
Copyright (c) 2023 Politico (11/10/23)
