By Janet A Sesay
Six persons accused of kidnapping on Wednesday made their first appearance before Magistrate Hannah Bonnie for allegedly conspiring together to kidnap Detective Sergeant Nathaniel Lamin 7846 and take him to an unknown destination without his consent.
The six accused were Emmanuel Bla, David Bla, Mohammed Bla, Alie Kamara, Abdulai Bangura and Abdulai Kamara.
The accused were arraigned on sixteen counts ranging from conspiracy, riotous conduct, wounding with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, malicious damage, throwing missiles among others.
The particulars of offence indicated that the accused on Tuesday 17th March 2020 at Mamanor village Tonkolili District conspired with other person unknown to behave in a riotous manner.
The charge sheet furthered that the accused on the same day at the same place maliciously wounded Inspector Musa Jalloh, Police Constable 18864 Francis Junior Sesay and PC 12793 Mohammed Manso Kabia with intent to cause them grievous bodily harm.
The charge sheet furthered that the accused on the same day at the same place maliciously damaged one Sierra Leone Police (SLP) vehicle with registration number SLP 264 and were also found throwing missiles and carrying offensive weapons.
After the charges were put to the accused, they pleaded not guilty to all the offences and consequently, the prosecutor A.S.P Ibrahim Mansaray sought for a date that his witnesses will be present in court.
Defense counsel Boniface Kamara made an application for bail on behalf of all accused but the prosecutor objected to bail on the grounds that the offences were very serious.
The accused were denied bail and the matter comes up on 27th May, 2020.