By Janet A. Sesay
A notorious fraudster, Emerson Bockarie on Tuesday, 7th January, 2024 made another appearance before Magistrate Wilbrie John of Pademba Road Court No.7 and was again remanded at the Male Correctional facility for allegedly obtaining the sum of Fifty Thousand United States Dollars from complainant, Teresa Kamara for the purpose of mining gold.
The accused Emerson Bockarie Senessie is standing trial before the court on two count charges of conspiracy to defraud contrary to law and obtaining money by false pretenses contrary to Section 32(1) of the Larceny Act of 1916.
The charge sheet indicates that Emerson Bockarie Senessie between 17th February to 7th June 2024 in the Republic of Liberia, conspired with other persons unknown to defraud the complainant, Mary Theresa Kamara the sum of USD 50,000 equivalent to One Million, One Hundred and Thirty-eight Thousand, Five Hundred New Leones by falsely pretending that he will mine gold and ship the said proceeds to her in the United States of America knowing same to be false.
In continuation of her testimony, the witness, Teresa Kamara recognized the accused and recalled the said dates of the botched transaction.
She testified that the accused became friend with her through Facebook and they kept communicating until they started talking on WhatsApp and during which conversations the accused suggested to her that they should venture into gold business to which she agreed.
She said she has been sending money to the accused for the mining business and the accused has been telling her different stories about the mining process.
She tendered documents relating to the monies she had been sending to the accused to the court to form part of the evidences. She also submitted a couple of fake documents of the gold company the accused alleged he had registered for the purpose of the mining to also form part of the evidences.
The witness furthered that the monies she had been sending to the accused were partly monies she had kept for her retirement and also partly loans she took from two banks in the United States of America.
After her testimony, the witness was cross- examined by the Defense Counsel, M. Glofa following which he made an application for bail on behalf of the accused.
His bail application was however turned down by Magistrate John on the ground that the accused has no fixed address since he was arrested in the Republic of Liberia. The Magistrate ordered that the accused be remanded in custody for the second time while he adjourned the matter to January 15th, 2024 for continuation.