By Musa Paul Feika
The police prosecution witness, Dr. Abdulai Dumbuya, who also doubles as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Freetown Cheshire Home, situated at No. 18 Race Course, Cline Town, in Freetown, has testified before Magistrate Wilbri Hamida Moira John, at the Ross Road Magistrate Court No. 1, in an ongoing matter involving Ibrahim Mansaray, a security guard, who was working for Dragon Security Company Limited.
The accused is before the court for the offences of office breaking, larceny and malicious damage, which all contravene the law.
Mr. Dumbuya continued his evidence stating that he recognized the accused as a former security guard from Dragon Security Company, who was manning Freetown Cheshire Home. He added that, due to frequent theft in the office, he installed a CCTV camera within the compound. Then the accused was replaced by another security guard, named Mustapha Turay.
He said he could recall 16th November, 2020. According to him, on that fateful night, he woke up at around 2am and he replayed the CCTV camera, which was connected to his mobile phone.
The witness added that, during the replay of the CCTV camera, he saw the accused standing at the entrance of the office, stating that when he went towards the Security Post, the camera picked him up. Mr. Dumbuya said, as a result, the accused covered it when it was dimmed.
The CEO informed the court that he later saw the accused in another CCTV camera, which was fixed at the corridor, noting that he saw the accused entering the compound through the ceiling. He said, when he could no longer pick the accused in his camera, he immediately contacted the security guard and instructed him to go into the compound, as something was happening there.
After a few seconds, he said Mustapha called him, through his telephone, and told him that he had apprehended the accused. He added that, upon his arrival at the crime scene, he saw the accused with ten laptop computers and three CCTV cameras, which were all damaged.
According Mr. Dumbuya, the computer laptops are worth seven million five hundred thousand Leones (Le7,500,000) each, which all total seventy six million, nine hundred and seventy thousand Leones (Le76,970,000).
“I contacted ASP Kamara from the Ross Road Police Division, and a team of police officers visited the crime scene where I handed over the accused to them,” Dr Dumbuya narrated to the bench. He rounded up his testimony stating that he made a statement to the police.
The accused is before the court on counts of office breaking, larceny and malicious damage, which are all contrary to law.
The police charge sheet adduces that Ibrahim Mansaray, on the 16th November, 2020, at No. 18 Race Course, Cline Town in Freetown, broke into the office of Freetown Cheshire Home and stole ten computer laptops and three CCTV cameras, which are all valued at seventy six million nine hundred and seventy thousand Leones (Le76,970,000), which properties belong to the Freetown Cheshire Home.
The accused was not legally represented and bail was denied. The matter will come up again on the 22nd February, 2021.