By Musa Paul Feika
Ibrahim Jalloh, a commercial driver, has made his first appearance before Magistrate Wilbri Hamida Moira John, who presides over at the Ross Road Magistrate Court No. 1, for allegedly stealing a Totatal Corolla vehicle, whose registration number is AKG 702. The property belongs to Yusuf Sesay (complainant).
According to Mr. Sesay, he handed over the vehicle to the accused on the 23rd December, 2020 to him to enable him transport passengers from the Texaco Lorry Park in Freetown to Kambia.
“Per our agreement, he was to return on the same day with the vehicle,” PW1 informed the court.
Testifying in court, Mr. Sesay, who works as Tally Clerk at Tima Fishing Company Limited, said he recognized the accused as a driver and could recall Monday 5th April, 2021.
On that fateful day, he said, he was at his place of work at Mabela in Freetown when he received a telephone call from his wife, Kadiatu Kamara, who gave him information that they have arrested a man with his vehicle at Mile 91 in Yoni Chiefdom.
He said, upon receiving the information, he advised Kadiatu Kamara to report the matter at the Mile 91 Police Station. Mr. Sesay told the bench that he later contacted the Crime Officer, whose name he could not recall. The Crime Officer confirmed to him that he had apprehended the vehicle.
“I was asked by the Crime Officer, at Mile 91 Police Station, to take along my vehicle’s documents (life card),” he said.
PW1 further testified that, on the same date, he left for Mile 91, adding that, upon his arrival, he saw the vehicle with a man, whose name he could not recall. He said the arrested man told the police that he bought the vehicle five million Leones (Le5,000,000) from the accused. “However, he still has to pay a balance of one million Leones (Le1,000,000).
“When the police asked him about the whereabouts of the accused, he told us that the accused was in Moyamba. They decided to device means by which the accused could be arrested. They called him and told him to collect the remaining sum,” he told the court.
PW1 said he then returned to Freetown, adding that, after a few days, he again received a telephone call from the Crime Officer from Mile 91 Police Station, who told him that he had arrested the accused.
Mr. Sesay detailed the bench that they rushed to Mile 91, but the matter had been transferred to the Regional Ross Road Police Division in Freetown, including the accused, who made a statement.
The accused is arraigned before the court on one count of larceny, which is contrary to the Larceny Act of 1916.
The police say Ibrahim Jalloh, on the Monday 5th April, 2021, at Mile 91 in Yoni Chiefdom, stole a Totatal Corolla vehicle, which is valued at twenty million Leones (Le20,000,000). It is property belonging to Yusuf Sesay.
The accused was denied bail and remanded at the Male Correctional Centre, Pademba Road in Freetown. The matter was adjourned to 11th May, 2021.