*Judiciary of Sierra Leone Communications, Main Law Courts Building, Freetown, 1st April 2022:
Court of Appeal Judge, Hon. Justice Monfred Sesay, has sentenced 37-year-old Stone Miner, Foday Sesay to 30 years in prison for murder.
It follows a unanimous guilty verdict of an eleven-member jury against Foday Sesay in respect of a count indictment of Murder.
Accused Sesay was alleged to have on the 26th March 26, 2017 at Freetown in the Western Area murdered one Alimamy Sesay.
In his summing up address to the jurors, Justice Monfred Sesay lamented on the weight and seriousness of the case and urged them not to attach emotions in their considerations, but deliver justice to both the victim and the accused person as the facts in the case revealed.
He said that the burden and standard of proof in all criminal trials of this nature is that, the prosecution must prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt by meeting all the elements of the offence charged.
Justice Sesay drew the attention of the jury to the autopsy report and Medical Certificate of the cause of death tendered by Prosecution Witness Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma, as well as the evidence of the other three witnesses.
The deceased Alimamy Sesay was said to have had an argument with the convict which turned very bitter and eventually resulted into him being stabbed.
Led in evidence by State Counsel Aruna Jalloh, the third Prosecution Witness, Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma told the court that the deceased died as a result of stabbed wound on the chest.
Following the guilty verdict of the jurors, the convict in his allocutus pleaded for mercy, stating that he had been ill since 2017 when he was indicted. He also informed the court that he is now partially blind and unable to walk, save being carried like a baby few weeks back.
In his plea in mitigation, Defense Counsel, R.S Bangura said his client was a first time offender and a stone miner which accounts for his only source of income to fend for his family.
He continued that his client’s health condition hasn’t been good while in incarceration.
Hon. Justice Monfred Sesay sentenced the convict to 30 years in prison with sentence to run concurrently.
Source: Judiciary Communications