Magistrate Hannah Bonnie intimated that she has done her level best to determine or commit the matter to the high court, but that she is perturbed by the attitude of the complainants, and would not like to see herself dragged into a matter she is not a party of.

The defendant, Rev Emmanuel Nylander is charged with the offence of Human Trafficking, and the charge sheet states that, the accused person trafficked nine Sierra Leonean children from Sierra Leone to Italy via Tripoli back in 2017.

Magistrate Hannah Bonnie told the crowded court that the said matter was assigned to her on 30 May 2018, and that after several adjournments, she granted a stiff bail to the accused person on 25 June 2018 in the sum of three hundred million Leones and two sureties in like sum, and that the sureties should be property owners residing in the central part of Freetown.

She had also ordered that the sureties should surrender their Title Deeds to the court and travelling documents, but that the court record indicates that up to date, the accused person, Rev. Emmanuel Nylenda has not been able to fulfill the bail conditions.

The complainants were represented by Lawyer, Musa Pious Hemoh Sesay, while the Defendant, Rev Emmanuel Nylenda was represented by Barrister Musa Beretay.

The matter was adjourned to Friday 17 August 2018.

Speaking to parents of the nine children within the precincts of the Law Court Building just after the matter was adjourned, they told AYV that their children were taken away by the accused person who had told them that he usually organizes all night prayer services at his residence and wanted their children to attend.

They further intimated that their children were allegedly trafficked from Sierra Leone to Italy via Tripoli the capital city of Libya by the accused person without their knowledge and consent, and that since then they have lost contact with their children.

According to the parents, they are tired, fed up and traumatized with the justice system in Sierra Leone, and that after they had lost contact with the children and the accused person, they reported the matter to the Kissy Police Division, before it was transferred to the Transnational Organized Crime Unit (TOCU) at Hastings in the outskirts of Freetown.

One of the complainants, Jeneba Kposowa commented that the matter was later transferred from the Transnational Organized Crime Unit to the Law Officers Department for legal advice, but that since then nothing positive has been done in ensuring that the matter is conclusively disposed.