By Janet A. Sesay
Justice Ivan Ansumana Sesay of the Freetown High Court on Friday, 1 September 2023, during judicial week, sentenced Muniru Lebbie, a hunter, to 56 years for killing Jonathan Saidu, a military captain. The accused was also found in possession of two unlicensed shotguns contrary to law.
The convict was standing trial before the court on three count charges of murder, being found in possession of small arms without license and unlawful concealment of arms contrary to law.
The indictment states that the convict on 21 December 2020, at Kono district, murdered RSLAF 18170594 /C Jonathan Saidu.
Before sentencing Justice Ivan said the prosecution called four witnesses to testify in court and the testimonies of all the witnesses corroborated including the two shotguns that were tendered before the court by the exhibit clerk.
He said the accused after the charges were read and explained to him denied the allegations but in his statements that he made to the police admitted to the offence.
He said after studying the evidence, the entire evidence, he found the accused guilty on all three count charges levied against him.
In his allocutus, the convict said he had nothing to tell the court. Defence Counsel A. Kamanda in his plea mitigation pleaded with the judge to temper justice with mercy on the convict, adding that he is a family man and had been in custody since the inception of the matter.
State prosecutor Jessie Tucker stated that the offense committed by the convict was a serious one.
Justice Ivan therefore sentenced the convict to forty (40) years for count one, ten (10) years imprisonment for count two and six months imprisonment for count three, totalling fifty years six months, to be run concurrently. The Judge ordered for the two shotguns to be confiscated by the state.