Cordelia Johnson, a business woman at Goderich, has on Thursday June 18, 2020, testified before Magistrate Hannah Bonnie of Court No. 1 on Pademba Road that the sum of Le 50 million was stolen from her dwelling house.
Fatmata Kargbo is the person whom she accuses for the theft of the money, and the court is preliminarily investigating Kargbo, to see whether she has a case to answer in a proper trial for allegedly stealing the missing sum Le50 million from the dwelling house of Cordelia Johnson at No.1 Turay Drive, Adonkia in Goderich.
According to the information contained in the police charge sheet the accused on Tuesday April 28, 2020, broke and entered the dwelling house of Cordelia Johnson and stole US$3000, and Le20 million, all to the total value of Le 50 ,000,000 which belonged to Johnson.
The complainant testified that on Tuesday April 28, 2020, she went to town leaving her daughter, Kadiatu Turay at home. She said she had had about US$$3000 and Le20 million in her box at the back of her bed. Cordelia informed the court that she instructed her daughter to meet her at her shop after completing some domestic chores.
She said at about an hour and thirty minutes she got a call from a neighbor who informed her about something which prompted her to rush home. She said when she got to her house, she met her daughter crying. She said she asked her child for her own house key but she did not reply because she was still crying.
Cordelia informed the court that he then opened the door and went straight to her room to check where she had kept her money before leaving, but noticed that the box was opened and there was no money there. She said she then called her child and asked her what had happened, and child explained exactly what had transpired.
She further said that she took her child to Adonkia Police Station and reported what had happened, and after few weeks she received a call from a friend who supplied her with information that Fatmata Kargbo, the accused, who had initially been detained by the police had been bailed by one Adama who stood as her guarantor, but was to return at any time to the station to complete her statement. She said she sat at the station for about four hours, but there was no sign of the accused.
Cordelia said that the police gave her information about the surety, and she searched and found her. She said that the surety told her that the accused was at home with her but was sick.
She said she went to the Aberdeen Police Station accompanied three police officers who arrested the Fatmata Kargbo, the accused. She informed the court that officers at the Aberdeen Police Station told her to accompany her daughter to an identification parade, in which both the child and her neighbor, one Saffiatu, positively identified the accused from among other persons.
The accused was admitted to bail in the sum of Le50 million, two sureties who should be a Sierra Leonean who is gainfully employed. The bail should be approved by the Deputy Assistant Registrar.
This matter comes up next on June 26, 2020.
By Isabella Cassell
22/6/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7850