By Saio Marrah
Civil Society Activist and Director of Native Consortium, Edmond Abu who was serving 21 days imprisonment for contempt of court has had his sentence suspended for 12 months, and allowed to leave prison after 10 days of incarceration.
In his ruling at the High Court No.1 in Freetown on Friday 20th January, 2023, Justice Adrian Fisher warned Abu that the one year suspended sentence was on condition that he does not repeat such conduct.
Abu had reportedly gone public just before judgment on his case against Mobile Telco companies for lack of free calls and other services to consumers, was to be passed. He had refused during the proceedings to apologise for his action.
‘’On the 10th January 2023, when the arrest warrant was executed, Mr. Abu proceeded to make further comments which were captured on video and published on social media, which were calculated to bring the judiciary into disrepute,” Justice Fisher noted.
The presiding judge however recalled how after his judgment on the case between the Native Consortium and the mobile telecommunication companies Abu was brought into to the court room with his counsels pleading for his release for the contempt of court.
Fisher pointed out that after listening to the plea, he offered Abu an opportunity to purge his contempt, but according to the presiding judge no remorse was shown by Abu.
According to the judge, while Abu was making his plea he said he did not know what he had done wrong and as far as he was concerned, he had not done anything, but that if the judge felt he did something wrong then he was sorry.
Justice Fisher however noted that Abu’s lawyer Jesse Jengo had pleaded to the court that the offender desirously regretted his action and that he recognized it ought not to have happened.
Abu was said to have explained to the court that he is an activist for 27 years with no criminal record and that he is an Accountant.
The judge said it has become a trend for certain persons in society to make “frivolous” and “vitriolic” comments against the judiciary and judges of superior courts of judicature on social media without any justification.
According to him, those who do so think they have the right to “soil” the reputation of the judges for their own personal “aggrandizement.”
He however acknowledged that “the field of application for the offence is also narrowed by the need in a democratic society for public scrutiny of the conduct of judges, and for the right of citizens to comment on matters of public concern.”
He further noted that balancing this right to freedom of expression with the importance of upholding public confidence in the administration of justice is at the heart of the debate about the offence of scandalizing the court.
While pronouncing his ruling, Justice Fisher noted that “some misguided elements claimed that the judiciary had held on to Edmond Abu for no reason’’. He pointed out hat there is legal reason for every detention which is only exercised as a last resort where all else fails.
Copyright © 2023 Politico Online (23/01/23)
