By Janet A. Sesay
Inspector Mohamed Jusu, Crime Officer at the Criminal Investigations Department, CID headquarters on Tuesday, 26th March, 2024, before Judge Advocate Mark Ngegba and Members of the Board, continued the cross examination done by defense counsel Ady Macaulay and others on behalf of their clients.
Ady Macaulay on behalf of ninth accused Staff Sergeant Idrissa Kallon and twenty-first accused Staff Sergeant Bangura in cross examination of witness Jusu exhibited before the court some jumping that took place (in time and seconds) in the video.
The video screen was exhibited on the screen again and playing the CCTV footage the video showed that the timeline was skipping from say, 1 minute to 2 minutes some seconds.
This was admitted by witness Jusu and he stated that there are reasons for the skipping that happened in the CCTV footages.
Exhibit ABJ 1-20 was shown to the witness, which he identified as the statement of Lieutenant Colonel Shek Ahmed Sandi. He said Col. Sandi told the investigators that while in prison, he made a few attempts to escape from the prison with the prisoners but each time he made an attempt he would see Kabba and Koita at the prison’s main gate.
Witness Jusu answering to questions further said he visited the crime scene, which is the front view of the Pademba Road Prison the camera captured.
Witness Jusu furthered that during the investigation he heard from some set of investigators that cell doors were broken at the prison but that was not his area of investigation.
He further informed the court that he did not know the number of cameras installed at the correctional centre.
He was asked again by defense counsel Macaulay if he investigated the correctional centre and he responded that he did not investigate the centre because they were not under investigation. However, the investigation team questioned them, he added.
Witness Jusu further answered questions that he was aware that prisoners were released from their cells and that amounted to an investigation.
He said the correctional centre is a department on its own and all what the investigation team asked for was the CCTV footage of the prison, which was given to them.
Witness Jusu furthered that the ninth accused Idrissa Kallon was captured in the camera in front of the prison gate, but was not seen shooting at the scene.
Officer Jusu said during the investigation the team did not invite a voice expert to know if the voices played in court were the voices of the accused persons.
The witness was shown exhibit ABS1-20 which he said were the screenshot materials he retrieved from Koita’s and some of the accused’s phones through WhatsApp conversations.
Defense counsel Julius Kofi on behalf of the twenty second accused, RSLAF 18183354 PTE Koroma, adopted the cross examination of Ady Macaulay’s.
He further asked the witness if accused Koroma’s phone was his personal property and he answered in the positive.
The witness said accused Koroma voluntarily gave his phone’s password to the investigation team, adding that after retrieving his phone he was not present when he opened the phone for investigation.
He said all what he has as evidence against accused Koroma is the screenshot message he took from his phone.
At this juncture the screenshot taken from accused Koroma’s phone was displayed on the screen and the WhatsApp profile picture of accused Koroma was also seen.
Also an outgoing call he made on 26th November, 2023, at 12:00 am was shown on the screen but it was clearly seen that there was no response to the call and witness Jusu admitted that as per the screen display no conversation took place.
Witness Jusu said he was part of the team of investigators.
On behalf of the twelfth accused Lieutenant Col. Yankan, defense counsel Charlie Israel Williams in his question asked the witness how he received the flash drive that he played in court. Responding, he said he got it from the management of the correctional centre.
Witness Jusu further stated that the spreadsheet of date, place and time when calls were made by the accused was given to him by the three mobile companies, adding that the spreadsheet had no letterheads or signatures of the mobile companies.
He was asked again by lawyer Williams if he was present when the CCTV footage were extracted at the Pademba Road Prison and placed on the memory stick and he responded that he was not present when the CCTV footages were extracted. Other defense counsels also cross examined the witness. The matter continues today for further hearing.