By Fatima Kpaka
In a dramatic courtroom testimony, Police Sergeant 8826 Sulaicin Mukeh Konneh took the stand on Friday, September 20, 2024, to testify against former police officer Abubakarr Yillah in the ongoing trial for the alleged murder of Fasineh Bangura. The case, which is being heard before Magistrate Santigie Bangura at Pademba Road Court No. 2, centers around the fatal shooting of Bangura in Yana Village, Karene District, in August 2022.
Sergeant Konneh, attached to the Homicide Unit at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters in Freetown, told the court that he was on duty when the case was first reported. He recalled receiving the case on July 18, 2022, after which an investigation was launched. A team of CID officers, including Konneh, traveled to Karene Village on August 14, 2022, where they conducted house-to-house inquiries and collected witness statements.
The sergeant confirmed that a postmortem examination was conducted on July 13, 2022, by government pathologist Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma. The postmortem results, which were handed to both the police and the deceased’s family, were tendered in court as Exhibit A.
Konneh further testified that on October 29, 2023, he retrieved an NP 18 pistol from Superintendent Kargbo, the Operational Support Division Coordinator for the North East Region. The firearm was treated as evidence and sent for ballistic analysis. A report from the Sierra Leone Commission of Small Arms was later received on November 2, 2023.
The former officer, Yillah, was formally charged with murder on October 19, 2023, despite a request for further analysis from the Small Arms Commission still pending at the time. During cross-examination, defense counsel Sahid Sesay pressed Konneh on the timing of the charge, to which the sergeant confirmed that voluntary caution statements had been obtained from the accused prior to filing the murder charge.
The accused, Abubakarr Yillah, remains remanded in custody as the case has been adjourned to September 27, 2024. He faces a single charge of murder under Section 1 of the Offenses Against the Person’s Act of 1861, amended by the 2021 Abolition of the Death Penalty Act. The charge stems from the alleged murder of Fasineh Bangura on August 13, 2022, in Tambakha Chiefdom, Karene District.