By Janet A. Sesay
The First Accused in the ongoing Court Martial trial, Major Patrick Abu Ordende Sesay alias PAO, has told the Court in his defence that he is innocent of the offences of mutiny, failure to suppress mutiny and desertion charges levied against him. The accused, Major Sesay was testifying on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
According to him, the root cause of the charges against him and the Fifth Accused, Zainab Amara Suwu for which both of them are standing trial, is because the Fifth Accused, Zainab Amara Suwu, chose him as lover over three Lieutenant-Colonels and one Major-General who had proposed love relationship to her.
He said he knew the Second Accused, Juana Kabba in 2022 when he applied for a study leave at the Ministry of Defence for his Law School programme.
One of the many issues the First Accused talked about, was when he was to Guinea in 2023, to represent the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) to do a presentation on borderless tie, adding that having performed well in that presentation he was asked to join the Fellowship to extend such presentation to other African Countries as they share similar border-crossing challenges.
He furthered that on that backdrop, he decided to embark on research at various border-crossing points between Sierra Leone and Guinea including border communities such as Sanya, Mongo and others.
The court learnt from him that the Fifth Accused, Suwu who is his girlfriend, was under-going her Junior Command Staff Course on possession of small arms among citizens and that he assisted her doing that course. Therefore, he decided to do a research on border smuggling of small arms around the border areas.
He furthered that it was in the course of that research that he sought for a medical leave for the treatment of a rash he had developed on his skin at particular hospital in Madina Oula, a town in Guinea close to Sanya, and a town on the Sierra Leone’s northern border district of Kambia.
He said while he was in Guinea, he used to see Guinean soldiers carrying pistol, and that he had the chance of enquiring from one of them whether they (Guinean Soldiers) normally cross over to Sierra Leone with their pistols and the respond he said he got from the soldier was affirmative.
The accused said he went on to enquire from the Guinean Soldier that if pistols are available for sale in Guinea and the response was positive, and that he was told that the cost for a pistol in Guinea was Seven Million Guinean Francs, which equivalence at the time of enquiry to the Sierra Leone Currency was Le 14, 000, 000 (Fourteen Million Leones). According to him, he did all that in a bid to assess the possibility of weapon smuggling around the borders of the two countries.
He further informed the court that following his arrest, he was placed in solitary confinement for three days and subjected to torture by members of the RSLAF forcing him to confess.
He narrated how senior officers from RSLAF and the Sierra Leone Police attempted to persuade him to serve as Prosecution Witness in return for him being let off the hook and other lucrative promises, but that he declined.
He went on to accuse the same senior security commanders of instructing an Investigator to copy from a particular note written on a piece of paper in his presence which they purported to be his own Voluntary Caution Statement.
In connection to the Calamera WhatsApp Group, the accused said his number was added to the “political” WhatsApp group without his knowledge and immediately he saw himself in the said group, he deleted himself, but that he was re-added to the said group.
According to him, he later received a call from a foreign number threatening to harm his family if he attempted to remove himself from the said group and he reported the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and that Inspector Mohamed Jusu at the CID, after examining the phone told him not to send money to the blackmailer who was threatening him and he told him such act is called cyber bullying.
In connection to the jail break and escape from prison, he told the court that in the early hours of November 26, 2024, he heard gunshots from a far distance, but that the said gunshot sounds were progressively getting closer until eventually, the assailants broke into the prison, arrested him and took him away.
He said they were heading towards the Orugu Bridge by Jui when the assailants’ vehicles were confronted by Government forces, during which period. He said he managed to escape and crossed over to Conakry, the capital city of Guinea.
He said due to the uncertainty of his safety in Guinea, he proceeded to Senegal and it was there he learnt that the Fifth Accused, Suwu had arrived in Guinea, but was suffering so he had to return to Guinea to rescue her.
According to him, they both applied to the United Nations Refugee Agency in Guinea appealing for the Guinean Government to allow them to stay, explaining that they are military personnel from Sierra Leone and that they were seeking asylum.
Major Sesay furthered that while they were waiting for their approval, security forces stormed their apartment and got them arrested and later repatriated to Freetown, adding that they were placed in solitary confinements at Bengazi, headquarters of the Paramilitary wing of the Sierra Leone Police for about three months.
He earlier told the court that investigators went to Sanya to do crime scene investigations, but that they never went to the said town in Guinea to confirm if whether he was admitted at any hospital and nor did they enquire from the Guinean Military Commander in Madina Oula to confirm whether he was there to purchase weapons.
Major PAO Sesay is among other five accused persons charged with eight count charges that included mutiny, failure to suppress mutiny and desertion in connection to the July 2023 subversion. The matter comes up today, for cross examination.