By Fatima Kpaka
Popular Hip-Hop rapper, Alhaji Amadu Bah, alias LAJ, has been convicted of robbery and assault and awaits his sentence by Justice Adrian Fisher slated for Friday 17th March.
The judge said he will hand down a sentence following a statement by the defense for the bench to exercise mercy (plea-in-mitigation) on behalf of the convicted musician.
LAJ, who looked chubbier than he was in recent months since his arrest, watched from the dock straight ahead at the Judge and paid keen attention as Justice Fisher handed down the judgment of guilt on him.
Justice Adrian Fisher in his address advised him to focus on his music career and cautioned that his Bad boy attitude wouldn’t take him anywhere.
The convict stands to face a maximum of 15 years in prison or could be given a lesser jail term based on his plea to the court for consideration of the judge.
Defense counsel Lawyer Pa Momoh Fofanah also pleaded with the judge to temper justice with Mercy noting further his client had learnt his lesson.
On Sunday 12th June 2022, LAJ in the company of others drove an unregistered black jeep to Leonco Gas Station along Congo Cross in Freetown at around 3:00 pm, assaulted and took the sum of Le 2,090,000 from pump attendant Francess Wilson, he also assaulted and took away Le 4,200,000 from Ishmail Kamara, in the same vein assaulted and took the Techno mobile phone of one Christiana Koroma and assaulted Francess Wilson, Ishmail Kamara and Musa Mansaray.
In trying to prove his case, the State Prosecutor Yusif Isaac Sesay called 8 witnesses during the trial.
The Witnesses positively identified the accused which the Judge said is an essential tool linking the accused to the crime.
LAJ in his defense relied on the two separate statements he made to the police during investigations. In those statements, he denied assaulting anyone but didn’t deny he and others had been to the said fuel station where he had altercations with the pump attendants, refused to pay for the fuel that had been pumped into their vehicle and took monies and a mobile phone.
The Hip-Hop rapper, who is said to be a serial offender, is said by the state prosecutor to be having cases of robbery at Swiss hotel and assault on police personnel among others. He has been on remand since his arrest on Sunday 12th June on his way to witness the Sierra Leone vs Guinea Bissau match in Conakry Guinea.
The learned judge will however deliver his final ruling on Friday 17 March 2023.