By Saio Marrah
Justice Sulaiman Bah, presiding over a murder trial of Ntuma Mansaray nee Bangura accused of killing her soldier husband Mamoud Mansaray, has told the court he will do his summing up this Monday 4th March 2024, to be followed by jurors’ verdict.
Justice Bah’s announcement came after the state prosecution and defence lawyers made their closing statements.
Lawyer Umu Sumaray representing the state, reminded the court that the circumstance was stabbing with a knife and that the prosecution had proven beyond all reasonable doubt that the accused did commit the offence and with intent.
According to her, the first prosecution witness (PW 1), Sheku Kamara was a neighbour of both the deceased husband and the accused. She reminded the court about how PW 1 testified in court that he was sleeping in his room when he overheard the deceased screaming “Wai e don chuk me” translated to mean ‘’she has stabbed me’’.
The prosecutor recounted the witness explaining how he rushed into their apartment, where he met the deceased on top of the accused, with blood dripping from the deceased.
The witness went on to remove the deceased from on top of the accused, with the accused having a wound close to her upper eyelid, and her hair rough.
The prosecutor reminded the court about a particular witness, a soldier who said the accused admitted to him that she stabbed the deceased.
The prosecutor however stated that the accused had been complaining about the deceased’s violent conduct towards her, pointing out that she made one complaint to Congo-Cross Police Station and others to military police, as well as the immediate military officer boss of the deceased.
The prosecutor read WhatsApp text conversations between the deceased and the accused in court, indicating threatening violent exchanges coming from both individuals between 19:00 and 20:23 hours on the day of the incident, 30th March 2020.
Prosecutor Sumaray further told the court that the accused had enough time to have escaped, after receiving such a threat from the deceased husband and pointed out that the two people intended to kill each other.
Defence lawyer, Charles I. Williams, reminded the court about how the accused had explained that she did not stab the deceased, but that when the deceased entered the house that night, he confronted her with a knife intending to kill her. The wife further pointed out that as the deceased entered, he locked the main door, causing her to be stranded in the house.
He further reported the accused saying when the deceased rushed towards her to kill her; she too ran towards their freezer and grabbed a bread knife, but that she had to drop hers after noticing that the husband was serious about it.
The wife, a nurse said she then pleaded with her husband not to kill her, but he was still advancing towards her.
The deceased said she had to push him back and when the deceased fell, he wailed saying that the knife had stabbed him.
Williams, while referring to the WhatsApp conversation, referenced a book written by former Justice Bankole Thoms, which says when one is responding to a threatening language with a similar threat, it is not a threat, but an attempt to repel the threat from the opponent.
He also noted that the wife acted in self-defence. According to him, the wife needed not to have escaped. The defence reminded the court about how PW 1 testified that the deceased husband had on several occasions beat up the wife.
The mother of the deceased had also admitted to the court that the accused had been complaining about the deceased’s domestic abuse against her and that the wife had severally complained to military police.
According to the defence despite all those efforts including a complaint to the police, the situation rather got worse. He noted that if the evidence provided by the prosecution was true, the accused would have been the deceased instead.
At the end of the proceeding, their daughter about four to five years of age was seen running after her mother (deceased) as the prison officers escorted her away.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (04/03/24)
