By Saio Marrah
Detective Constable Osman Mohamed Bangura, a prosecution witness in a case in which a man is accused of conspiracy to commit a felony and being an accessory to the fact has denied asking for a bribe of NLe 15, 000.00 from the accused to keep him out of a cell. The police witness was under cross-examination by Lawyer Sylvanus Kanyako at Pademba Road Magistrate’s Court in Freetown on Monday 9th October 2023.
The prosecution alleges that on the 26th of February 2023 at Rokel Village in the Western Rural District, the accused, a nurse by profession, did counsel, procure, and command one Ibrahim Bah, who is now on the run to commit larceny.
Detective Constable Bangura had earlier told the court that he was on duty at the Criminal Investigation Department in Freetown on the 28th of February this year when the case file was assigned to him from Rokel Police Post for further investigation. He said they (a team of investigators) wrote to the cyber unit of the CID for analysis of the call log on the phone number of Ibrahim Bah who is now on the run.
According to him, the findings of the cyber unit report indicated that the phone number of the accused was in constant communication with the fugitive before and after the incident. He said because of that they arrested the accused on the 8th of March this year and handed his phone number over to the cyber unit for analysis. The police witness said it revealed that the accused was indeed in constant communication with the fugitive.
The detective said on the same day a caution statement was obtained from the accused, after which he was charged. He said in the course of the investigation, police found out that Bah had been a friend and a driver of the accused for over six years and that there was evidence of conspiracy between the accused and the fugitive.
The police detective admitted that the complainant did not know or mention the name of the accused, but that the name came up during the cyber investigation.
The accused is on bail and the case continues on the 23rd of March this year.
Copyright (c) 2023 Politico (11/10/23)
