By Saio Marrah
A police prosecution witness in the ongoing preliminary investigation into an alleged case of kidnapping of a Nigerian has told a magistrate in Freetown that he could not recall where the alleged kidnapping took place.
Detective Police Constable, Septimus Mansaray who was being cross-examined by the first accused, Prince Oscar, another Nigerian, on Monday 25th September 2023, also said, that the first accused and the six other accused persons took the complainant to the residence of the first accused at No. 26 Small Doherty Street Murray town in Freetown. Asked whether the police took photographs of the scene where the alleged kidnapping occurred, Mansaray said police did not have a smartphone to take pictures at the time.
The witness told the court that he was on duty on the 16th of December 2022 at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department when the complainant reported a case of kidnapping. Detective Mansaray said on the same day, he joined a team of police detectives who went to the residence of the first accused and conducted a search. According to him, during the search, they discovered a red and yellow rope, which the complainant described as that which the accused used to tie him up.
The witness said the complainant also informed the police that while the second accused, Emeka Ouigbo was “manhandling” him the first accused was making a video of the affair using his phone.
On 17 December, he said police arrested the first and second accused at the same house and took them to CID headquarters and that on the same day, a medical form was issued to the complainant, who was then treated at the Connaught hospital.
Detective Mansaray said on the 9th of January 2023, the phone that the first accused used to film the alleged manhandling of the complainant by the second accused was handed over to the cyber unit for them to analyze the videos, a process that was completed on the 25th of January and a report prepared. He said after that caution and charge statements were prepared.
Answering further questions put to him by the first accused, detective Mansaray told the court that the complainant arrived at the CID headquarters with a fractured foot and also noted that there were other tenants in the same building where the complainant was allegedly kidnapped.
Detective Mansaray said the complainant also told him that the accused had taken him to Hastings Police Station claiming that he (the complainant) owed him a certain amount of money before he was kidnapped.
The State Prosecutor, Yusif Isaac Sesay, informed the magistrate that the complainant had informed him that the accused, who are already on bail, had threatened him.
Seven persons charged with six counts ranging from conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, and causing grievous bodily harm are before the court.
The case resumes on 3rd October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (29/09/23)
