By Janet A. Sesay
Morlai Conteh, a prison officer attached at the Male Correctional Centre as a carpenter, testified before the court that there were 1,919 (one thousand nine hundred and nineteen) male inmates in prison before the 26th November, 2023, attempted coup including those serving life imprisonment, those condemned, among others.
He made this disclosure on Wednesday, 2nd April, 2024, while testifying before Justice Komba Kamanda and a panel of 12 (twelve) juries at the on-going treason trial involving Koita and 11 (eleven) others.
The witness said his duty as a carpenter is to train inmates in carpentry, disclosing that he also served as a security guard.
Witness Conteh said on Saturday, 25th November, 2023, he reported for duty at the prison facility at 11pm, adding that when he took up duty, he took records of all the inmates in prison which showed that there were 1,919 male inmates.
He furthered that after taking records he met the Officer Commanding, named Brown, who deployed officers around the prison. He said he later went into his own office.
Witness Conteh continued that around 1 am, one of his colleagues in the prison informed him that he was hearing gunshots outside the prison compound but that the music that was playing outside the correctional centre was making it difficult for him to hear the sound of the gunshots.
Conteh added that around 3 am, after the music stopped playing, he again started to hear the gunshots, which fact was qualified by armed officers being deployed outside the prison compound.
Going further, he stated that during the gunshots, the inmates were inside their cells and around 7 am he was waiting for the officer who was to replace him before going home, but no one showed up to relieve him.
He furthered that while waiting, he heard heavy gunshots close the Correctional Centre and a few minutes later he heard a strange voice calling on them to open the gate, which they refused to do, adding that the same strange voice threatened to kill them if they did not open the gate for them to enter. He said based on that information, he ran for his life.
He explained that the unknown individuals started firing at the gate and he later heard shooting inside the prison compound. Conteh continued that he also heard heavy sounds coming from the cells as if they were trying to break the padlocks to the cells the inmates were kept.
Officer Conteh furthered that later when he came out from his hiding place he checked the cells, but the inmates were nowhere to be found and the padlocks were all broken. He said he met three inmates inside the cell housing the condemned. After the inspection, Conteh said he went home.
The witness was not cross examined by defence counsel simply because he did not mention the names of the accused persons while testifying.
At this juncture, the prosecutor, O. V. Robin Mason, informed the judge that the other prosecution witness was absent from being sick.
He therefore requested that the learned judge adjourn the matter to Monday, 8th April, 2024, for the next witness to testify.
The matter was adjourned to the requested date.