By Janet A Sesay
Alfred Paolo Conteh has walked free from the charge of treason after a protracted trial presided over by Justice Alhaji Momoh Jah Stevens of the High Court of Sierra Leone.
The two accused persons Anthony Sinnah and Prince George Hughes were acquitted and discharged of the charges of aiding and abetting the commission of treason.
Thanks to the expertise of the defence team and the fairness of Justice Stevens and the 12 jurors.
However, Paolo Conteh was found guilty on counts ten and eleven which relates to the possession of a number of arms and ammunition and having a loaded weapon in a public place.
As a result of the conviction on the two counts, the first accused would serve two years behind bars despite appeal by the defence for a pecuniary punishment as an alternative to a custodial one.
The accused was however acquitted and discharged on fourteen counts including treason.
The first accused, Alfred Paolo Conteh was Minister of Defence and Internal Affairs while the second and third accused, Anthony Sinnah and Prince George Hughes respectively are employees of the Commission on Small Arms.
The accused persons were represented by Dr Abdulai O. Conteh and team, and the Attorney-General and other state counsels prosecute on behalf of the state.
In his plea of mitigation, one of the defence counsels, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara thanked the jurors and the Judge for such a verdict.
“We are excited that a sentence of death by hanging has been taken away from the head of our client,” Counsel Kamara appreciated.
The defence counsel reiterated that the first accused was found guilty on counts ten and eleven for keeping a greater number of arms and taking a loaded weapon to a public place for which, he said, the accused was remorseful.
He reminded the court that the first accused had served the country as Minister of Defence on two occasions and as Minister of Internal Affairs.
He also told the court that Paolo Conteh had served the Sierra Leone Army diligently and rose to the rank of major.
In light of the foregoing, Counsel Kamara pleaded with the Judge not to hand down a custodial sentence but a fine as an alternative. “The accused, Paolo Conteh has already served his jail term while he was incarcerated,” he appealed.
He pleaded with the judge to tamper justice with mercy on the first accused noting that it was with a heavy heart that the first accused was the only one left in the dock.
He told the judge to look at the good things he had done for the country and maintained that he had no intention of killing anyone.
“The first accused has never been to court as this is the first time he is charged,” he said.
Having heard the plea of mitigation, Justice Alhaji Momoh Jah Stevens sentenced the first accused on count ten and eleven being possession of arms and ammunition and having a loaded weapon in a public place.
In the sentence hearing, Justice Stevens summed up the evidence of the thirteen witnesses as well as that of the first accused person.
The five voluntary caution statements which the first accused made to the police was also read, and they indicated that the accused denied all allegations against him.
He also read the voluntary caution statements of the second and third accused Sahr Anthony Sinnah and Prince George Hughes which they made to the police.
The two accused persons also denied the allegations.
Educating the jurors on the law, Justice Momoh Jah Stevens said treason was the most serious offence committed in the land noting that it was a matter of betraying one’s own country. For the said offence, the judge went on; the prosecution had to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused actually committed the crime.
Justice Stevens said the elements of treason were that the offence had to be committed in Sierra Leone or elsewhere.
He said for an act to amount to treason, one must be prepared adding that section 3(1)(b) of the treason Act said: “If a person is found guilty of treason the sentence should be death by hanging.”
Having got direction on points of law from the judge, the jurors retired and returned with a not-guilty verdict against Paolo Conteh, and equally acquitted and discharged the second and third accused persons.
As Paolo Conteh begins his jail term today, it is not clear whether the Prosecution would appeal the judgment.