By Umaru Fofana
When Dr Kekuda Bangura went to study in Russia and later fell in love with and married Sevectina the two probably never expected they would die on the same day under such circumstances. In what reads like pages torn from a Greek tragedy, or indeed a scene from a horror movie, state prosecutors say they were both bludgeoned to death by their own son, Edward.
25-year-old Edward is alleged to have butchered his Russian mother with a kitchen knife on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon on 20 May this year. Police say he later put her body inside a barrel, tucked clothes on top of it before neatly locking the barrel. Next, he cleaned himself up and ensconced in front of the house. A few hours later, his dad returned home without seeing his wife. He reportedly asked for her and Edward said she’d gone for a walk. As his dad sat down waiting for his wife to have dinner, Edward allegedly entered the house and hit him with a vehicle axle. He died INSTANTLY.
Police say it is the first time in the modern history of Sierra Leone that a son has killed both parents. "Not even the brutal civil war gave us this tragedy", a senior police officer told Politico. Edward has now been slammed with two straightforward counts of murder, one for the death of either parent. The counts were read out to him in court, even if no plea was taken. If prosecutors adduce evidence the case will be committed to the high court – otherwise it will be thrown out.
Those who saw him in court say he did not seem like someone who appreciated the enormity of the crime for which he is now being tried. And in a somewhat incoherent manner, he told the magistrate, Komba Kamanda, that he had no business being before his court saying he was a soldier and should have been taken to a military tribunal. Some have interpreted this to mean that he is in conflict with his mental faculty.
According to a statement attributed to the 25-year-old Edward, he admitted to police that he did kill his father, a university lecturer and his mother a medical doctor. He alleges that they had planned to kill him. Another reason why many think he is a psychiatric case.
It is still not clear what the exact motive of Edward’s alleged action might be; but many in the eastern mountain Kissy area of Freetown say he had been behaving weird since he was brought back from Russia where he was said to have dropped out of school allegedly owing to substance abuse.
Probably not surprisingly, there is no sympathy for the young man even before his conviction. And in a country, which Amnesty International says there is now an official moratorium on the death penalty, the last of which was carried out in 1998, many have already started calling for Edward to face the gallows. The matter has been adjourned to next week.
© Politico, 6 May 2012
