By Janet A. Sesay
Mayor of Freetown Municipality, Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, was on Tuesday, 27th January 2026, discharged by Principal Magistrate Braima Jah of Magistrate Court No. 1 in Freetown following the withdrawal of charges of obstruction of police duty and disorderly behavior levied against her by the police at the Airport Police Division in Lungi.
However, when the matter was called in court Principal Magistrate Mustapha Braima Jah, the State Counsel prosecuting the matter, Yusuf Isaac Sesay, presented a formal document signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Osman I. Kanu, directing that the matter be discontinued in the court.
Mayor Aki-Sawyer had been standing trial on two count charges namely: obstruction of police duty, contrary to Section 39 of the Police Act, 1964 (Act No. 7 of 1964), and disorderly behaviour, contrary to Section 12(b) of the Public Order Act, 1965 as repealed and replaced by Act No. 15 of 1973.
The charges stemmed from an alleged incident at the Airport Police Division in Lungi, where the Mayor was accused of obstructing police officers during a dispute involving a Councilor who was being questioned by the police.
When the case was called, the Lead Defence Counsel, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, opened the case of the defence case by debunking the allegations and applied for subpoenas for witnesses—an action that caused delays in the proceedings in early 2023.
The defence eventually closed its case on April 3, 2023, relying on evidence already tendered before the court. Final written submissions were subsequently ordered for April and early May 2023. The trial featured testimony from several witnesses, including police officers, and involved the review of video evidence.
After examining the discontinuance notice, Magistrate Jah stated that he had carefully considered the submission by the Director of Public Prosecutions and State Counsel, made pursuant to Section 66(4)(c) and (5) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.
In view of the submission, the learned Magistrate ordered that the matter be discharged, and accordingly ruled that Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer was formally discharged of all charges.