Witness Testifies In Murder Case

By Fatmata Mohamed Bangura
Sulaiman Mukeh Konneh a Police Office attached to the Homicide Unit at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, testified before Magistrate Santigie Bangura of Court No.2
He presented statement in an alleged Murder case involving a former police officer, Abubakarr Yillah.
Yillah is facing a murder charge under section 1 of the Offence against the person act of 1861 as amended by section 1(a) of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act of 2021 Act No. 6 of 2022.
The charge sheet alleged that on Wednesday 13th August 2022 at Yana village in the Tambakha Chiefdom Karene District, Yillah Murdered Fasineh Bangura by shooting him with a pistol.
In his testimony, Office Konneh identified the accused as a former police officer and recalled receiving the case file on Monday, July 18th 2022.
The case involved the alleged Murder of Fasineh Bangura, a resident of Kerena village.
Konneh started that on August 14th 2022 a team of CID detectives including himself, visited the crime scene in Kerena village.
The team conducted a house-house inquiry and obtained statements from several witnesses.
Konneh further testified that on December 19th 2022, he conducted a contemporaneous interview with the accused, adhering to the judge’s rules prior to the interview, on July 13th 2022, a postmortem examination was conducted on the remains of the deceased by government pathologist Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma.
The photocopy of the postmortem report was hand over to the police while the original was given to the family for burial.
The postmortem result was tendered in court as evidence.
Additionally, Konneh testified that on October 29th 2023, he retrieved a NP.18 pistol with serial numbers SL/SLP-14/13501896-123 from the Operational support division coordinator for the North-East Region, Superintendent Kargbo which was treated as exhibit.
On October 30th, 2023 a request for ballistic examination was forwarded to the cyber Unit for analysis and on November 2rd 2023 a report from the Sierra Leone commission of small arms regarding the pistol was received.
Konneh concluded by stating that on October 19th 2023 the accused was officially charged with murder. Sahid Sesay Esq was representing the State.
The accused was Remanded at the Male Correctional Facility in Freetown and the matter was adjourned to the 27th September 2024.