The reason he proffered for not granting them bail, he said, was: “I am not denying any body’s right to belong to any group but these are the future leaders who should be preparing take over us.” The children he cried down “are too young to be indoctrinated in such a practice which would pose threat to public security. I don’t think they even know what they are trying to belong to.”
Before verdict was passed, the court listened to a harrowing story from one Andrew Panga. This whistle blower told the court of how he was invited to a chilling party that turned out to be an initiation day for new members at Sam Steven Street in Gbondo Town. “I was locked in a room from 11am to 3pm.”
He further explained to the jam-packed court that while in the dark room “I heard the girls screaming half naked.”
The case was adjourned to December even though the defending lawyers, Timothy Sowa, Taylor and Turay appealed for bail.
It could be recalled that sometime in October the children were arrested by the Sierra Leone Police on tip-off for allegedly carrying out ‘cultism.’