By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Deputy Minister of Education, Mahmoud Tarawallie, sacked last week, made his first appearance in court yesterday charged with four counts of rape, wounding with intent wounding and assault.
He was refused bail and remanded at the Pademba Road Maximum Prisons until Thursday.
He stood before Magistrate Tonnia Barnette at Court Number 2.
Applying for bail on the minister’s behalf, one of his eighteen defense lawyers, Sulaiman Kabbah Koroma observed that even before being charged to court the accused had already been convicted by the media. He said some lawyers were “divulging” certain information to some media institutions “which they are using to dent the minister’s image”.
The defense lawyer went on that there were privileges provided by the country’s constitution that should be enjoyed by not only victims but also accused persons, and emphasised the “presumption of innocence until proven guilty”.
But the police state prosecutor objected to the bail application for fear of interference with other prosecution witnesses. He also pointed out that the accused was flight risk.
He observed that the victim couldn’t be in court yesterday “for fear of her life”.
(C) Politico 17/09/13
