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Lawyer Gavao Supports Death Penalty

HomeAYV NewsLawyer Gavao Supports Death Penalty

Lawyer Gavao Supports Death Penalty

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“I hold the view that the law should applicable as they are. If we have it in our law that when someone is found guilty of the offense of murder, the punishment for such offense is death, I think it should be carried out,” he submitted.

He stated that Human Rights Organisations asking for the removal of the death penalty from our law books were created for that purpose. “Human Rights groups have no option, they are doing their job, that’s what they were created for. If you go into their history they have started the campaign for the abolition of death penalty long since.”

He maintained that there is no country in the world that have not supported the abolition of death penalty, but yet they always canvass for it to be expunged.

Lawyer Gavao noted that laws are made for the people and that it implementation should not trigger uprising, stressing that laws should be implemented to satisfy the people.

“The provision for the death penalty is an entrenched clause, and if you want to abolish it, it has to be taken back to the people via referendum. Basically, there’s no Sierra Leonean who is not in support of the death penalty,” he argued.

He emphasized that If the penalty is taken back to the people they will surely kick against it abolition and call for it to be retained. “Those that will say retain it will outweigh those who want it abolished. 

He said people are yearning for it to be applied as it is. 

The lawyer said although the country had not executed persons found guilty of murdering an ordinary man, yet, he still believes that we should actually start implementing the law, adding that he was not witch hunting anyone. “I am not persecuting anyone.”

“If the court convict and sentenced someone to death by hanging and it is done accordingly, it will serve as deterrent. If death penalty cannot serve as deterrent as argued by Amnesty International, then what serve as deterrent? He queried.

He rhetorically asked whether life imprisonment will serve as deterrent for the offense of murder, insisting that the mischief behind the death penalty is to send a strong signal, arguing that it was the very reason why it was created in all law books across the world.

Gavao said even though some nations are gravitating towards abolition it, the world most powerful nations like America and other countries were still retaining it. 

He emphasized that it was the only was to make perpetuators refrain from commuting murder 

“Our laws and judges should be respected,” he said.

He concluded that the implementation of the death penalty is a wake up call, Sierra Leone had been a very peaceful place citing the unprecedented increase in murder incident in the capital city, Freetown day-by-day, suggesting that somethings drastic must be done otherwise, the nation would be in trouble.

It should be remembered that the 

the Internal Affairs Minister, Alfred Paolo Conteh has Instructed authorities at the Pademba Road Prison to clean the gallow in the Prison because all those sentenced to death are to die by hanging.

“Gallow is a structure on which a criminal who has been sentenced to death is killed by being hanged.”

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