By Janet A. Sesay
Roland Lansana Roberts has on Monday 21st February 2022 explained in open court what transpired between him, his wife Christiana Gladys Roberts and her boyfriend Clifford Amiru Dumbuya.
He alleged that his wife and her boyfriend assaulted him until he became unconscious.
Led in evidence by police prosecutor Joan Bull, Roberts told the court that he knew Clifford on the day of the incident and Christiana as his wife of over nine years.
He recalled that on 31st January 2022 he was at his building site when he received a call from a family member from his village that his mother was unwell. Based on that information he said he went home and told his wife and kids that he was going to visit his mother in the village.
The witness furthered that he was on his way driving when somewhere close to the first lady’s office at Goderich the vehicle started giving problems, which forced him to park it in the Gbendembu community to call his auto-mechanic.
According to him, at around 9pm he was at Gbendembu junction when he saw his wife inside a Chevrolet Caprice, adding that he immediately boarded a motorbike and chased her to see where she was going.
He said he and the bike rider followed the Caprice until they reached Gigibonta (at the Lumley Circle), where the second accused (Clifford) alighted the vehicle and went somewhere. When Clifford returned, he said he saw him hand over an envelope to his wife, re-enter the vehicle and drove off. He said he was watching them from a distance, and followed them when they resumed their journey.
He said he continued following them until they arrived at the One Charm Guest House at Aberdeen, where the second accused blew the horn but was informed by the gateman that there were no available rooms, which forced them to leave.
He said during that process he took photos of the vehicle with registration number AIG 349 and sent them to his friend as evidence.
The witness said when the vehicle arrived at the road leading to the Golden Tulip hotel – they stopped at another guesthouse, where they were again told that there were no available rooms.
Leaving the guesthouse, Roberts said the second accused alighted the vehicle to urinate, which gave him an opportunity to approach the Caprice to confront his wife. After questioning his wife as to what she was doing there with the second accused at that time of the night, he tried forcing her to get down from the vehicle, but she refused to.
During this exchange with his wife, he said the second accused re-entered the vehicle, which forced him to switch on the inside lights of the vehicle to see who his wife was with. As he held on to his wife’s hand, he said Clifford hastily drove the vehicle about 5 to 10 metres attempting to get away with his wife. All along he said he wife was asking him to let go of her hand.
He added that at that point Clifford stopped the vehicle, took an iron rod and hit him twice on his left hand, adding that he was still able to remove his wife from the vehicle.
Robert said his wife grabbed a stone and hit him on his head, resulting to him falling down. While trying to get up, he said his wife hit him again with another stone on his left cheek, which left him unconscious. He said he later woke up at the Emergency Hospital, and on the following day he made a statement at the CID headquarters.
Cross examination was deferred by the Magistrate at that point because the day had been far spent.
Defence counsel Elvis Kargbo renewed his application for bail on behalf of both accused but state prosecutor Joan Bull vehemently opposed to bail due to the serious nature of the offences, stating further that her client has critical pains all over his body.
Magistrate Sahr Kekura, however, refused bail and remanded the accused in prison while the matter was adjourned to 25th February 2022 for cross examination.
Clifford Amiru Dumbuya and Christiana Gladys Roberts were arraigned before the Magistrate on six count charges of causing grievous bodily harm contrary to section 18 of the Offences against the Person’s Act 1861.
According to the particulars of offence, the accused Clifford Amiru Dumbuya and Christiana Gladys Roberts on Saturday, 1st January 2022 at Aberdeen in Freetown assaulted Roland Lansana Roberts in a manner thereby causing him grievous bodily harm.