Recapitulating her statement in court, second prosecution witness, Detective Police Sgt. Zanaib Sankoh, who is attached to the Criminal Investigation Department, CID, at Congo Cross, said the complainant was always in the habit of provoking her each time he passed by her residence.
The accused also told police that on 25 October 2016 she was frying some fish and chicken for a funeral in Kenema and while she was busy with that the complainant went and took one of the fried fish and started dancing over her.
She further intimated that she warned the complainant to desist from doing such to her as the fish in question was meant for a purpose in Kenema, adding that since complainant insisted on taking it she went and complained the complainant to the chairman of their community, a certain Mr Dumbuya.
According to her statement, she was pacified and advised Mr Dumbuya to return and continue with her work, noting that on her return she saw complainant holding on to one of the fried chicken legs she had placed in the fish basket. She said because of that she grew vexed and bailed out some oil from the frying pot and threw it at the complainant.
“I threw hot oil on Abdul Saffa so that he would stop provoking me. Besides, whenever my house is affected by flooding, especially during the rains, he would pass by my residence and start uttering provocative statements against me,” the accused told police.
Prior to the accused person’s statement being recalled by the detective police Sankoh, she testified that she recalled the incident of 25 October 2016 and on the aforementioned date she was at the CID at Congo Cross when a case was reported against the accused.
She informed the court that she issued police medical request form to complainant, which was approved and endorsed by the police referral doctor at Connaught Hospital. She said she also visited the place of the incident together with the scene of crime officer, but that they could not see any witness to talk to in respect of the incident.
The witness continued that on 4 November 2016, she and Detective Police SGT Dumbuya interviewed the accused person and she made statement to them in Krio, which was recorded in English. She said at the conclusion of the interview statement, it was read over and explained in krio, which she accepted to be true and correct and signed it by affixing her right thumb print.
The witness concluded by stating that she finally charged the accused with the offences contrary to the Public Order Act of 1965 of the country’s laws. Justice Allieu adjourned the matter to Monday 16 January 2017.
