By: Alimatu Kargbo
Two accused persons, Memunatu Bangura and Madam Dorty, appeared before Magistrate Mary Julia Gbloh at Pademba Road Court No. 5 in Freetown to answer to multiple criminal charges including larceny, assault, and threatening language.
The matter between Alhassan Mansaray and the two accused, is before the court on three counts.
The first count is larceny, contrary to Section 2 of the Larceny Act of 1916. According to the particulars of offence, the accused persons are alleged to have, on Sunday 11th January 2026 at No. 40D Wallace Johnson Street, Kingharman Mile One, Freetown, stolen one Tecno Spark 10 mobile phone valued at NLe 1,800, one silver chain valued at NLe 1,000, and one National Identification Card valued at NLe 140, all amounting to a total of NLe 2,940, property of the complainant, Alhassan Mansaray.
The second count is assault occasioning actual bodily harm, contrary to Section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861. The prosecution alleged that on the same date and location, the accused persons assaulted the complainant in a manner that caused him actual bodily harm.
The third count relates to threatening language, contrary to Section 3(1) of the Public Order Act No. 46 of 1965.
During the proceedings, a defence witness, Aldeth Hill, a student residing at 27 Wallace Johnson Street, testified before the court. She told the court that she knows the complainant as someone from the same community, adding that they had lived peacefully for years.
Recounting the incident, the witness said that on the night of 11th January 2026 at about 11:00 p.m., they were outside their verandah boiling benny when the complainant allegedly came, shouting loudly at the first accused, Memunatu Bangura. She stated that the first accused had earlier complained of feeling unwell and was resting when the complainant began using abusive language.
According to the witness, she intervened and told the complainant that there was no issue between him and her mother and that there was no need for insults. She alleged that the complainant continued using offensive and abusive words, including personal insults directed at the first accused and her mother, and threatened to fight again as he had done previously.
Under cross-examination by Counsel A.B. Sesay, the witness stated that she had known the complainant for over 15 years and that they were once very close, like siblings, until disagreements arose over property ownership in the area. She denied suggestions that she and her mother used abusive language or that she seized the complainant’s phone while he was recording a video.
Defence counsel Elizabeth Abu applied for a short adjournment to enable the defence to call additional witnesses. Magistrate Gbloh granted the application and adjourned the matter to 1st April 2026 for further hearing.
