Justice Abdulai Charm maintained that, the judiciary will not tolerate such irresponsible and negligent conducts from jurors who, he said are very crucial and indispensable to proceeding hinging on very grave offences allegedly committed by prisoners awaiting trial at the country’s maximum prisons centre.
He insisted that, the court will take drastic action against any juror or jurors who have taken delight in treating the court with a wave of the hand and very soon, he will address letters to heads of ministries, departments and agencies that recommended and accredited staff members to serve as jurors, to take official notice of the irresponsible and lackadaisical attitudes towards executing their functions and civil responsibility and for prompt disciplinary action to be taken.
The head of Sierra Leone Judiciary, Justice Abdulai Charm informed his audience that, jurors should take into cognizance the fact that, they are assigned to perform civil responsibility and must be seen to be carrying out those responsibility with all seriousness it deserves and to the best of their ability.
In as much as Plaintiffs deserve justice, he went on the liberty of accused persons is also at stake, stating that the role of jurors in determining the guilt or innocence of accused persons facing certain grave criminal offences and proceedings is very crucial and indispensable and therefore, he said they must accord the court honor and dignity it deserves in the dispensation of justice.
Furthermore, the Chief Justice proceeded with the trail of Alhassan Kanu charged with the offence of Burglary contrary to the Larceny Act of 1916 of the laws of Sierra Leone, and the particulars of the offence revealed that, accused Alhassan Kanu forcefully entered into his Father, Habib Kanu residence in Freetown and stole twenty cartoons of assorted confectionaries, forty nine gross goal seal filter cigarettes and assorted batteries all to the total value of two million, nine hundred thousand leones.
Accused pleaded guilty to the charge preferred against him and also confessed that he gave his father, Habib Kanu some money for safe keeping and after some time he requested for his money, but his father could not give any positive response, and as result of his father’s refusal to hand over his money, he went and broke into his father’s residence and carted away with the above stated items.
He told the court that, while on remand at the Male Correctional Centre on Pademba road in the west part of the country’s capital Freetown, he was informed by his co- inmates that his father had succumbed to the cold hands of death.
The Chief Justice in his wisdom discharged Alhassan Kanu on the grounds that, he is faced with aggravating circumstances, considering the fact that, the items he stole did not belong to his father and coupled with his death while serving on remand for the items he stole.
The State was represented by a battery of lawyers from Law Officers Department led by the Director of Public Prosecution, Sulaiman Bah, while the discharged prisoner was represented by Cecelia Taulker from the Legal Aid Board.
