By Ibrahim Kabba Turay
Justice Alhaji Momoh Jah Stevens JA has on Monday sentenced one Ibrahim Sorie Mumu Jalloh to Fifteen years imprisonment after he was found guilty of penetrating a fourteen years old child.
Jalloh was charged for the offence of Sexual Penetration contrary to Section 4(a)(ii) of the Sexual Offences Act 2019 as amended,as repealed and replaced by Section 4 of the Sexual (Amendment) Act of 2019 Act No.8 of 2019
M.P. Sesay for state alleges that the convict on 31st May 2022 in Freetown engaged in an act of sexual penetration with the victim, who was Fourteen years
The prosecution filed an instrument signed by the Attorney General dated the 6th day of July 2022 for the convict to be tried by a Judge alone, instead of a Judge and jury in accordance with Section 144(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1965 as amended.
Justice Stevens in his ruling stated that, after the prosecution closed their case, an option was given to the convict to select whether he wanted to rely on his statement he made to the police, take the witness stand and call witness or testify in the dock. But he informed the court through his lawyer from the Legal Aid Board that, he relied on the statement he made to the police.
Meanwhile, Justice Alhaji Momoh Jah Stevens JA immediately withdrew the file for judgment.
The judge recalled that the accused had pleaded not guilty to the offence as charged, adding that the prosecution brought four witnesses including the medical doctor.
He said the accused denied the allegation in its entirety, but he did not proffer any defence to corroborate the said denial.
“A substantiated defence by the accused will have been crucial foe my consideration of his innocence but to mainly denied and rely on same I submit it cannot project a strong defence of the accused,” the judge said
He said according to the victim, she went to sell some stuff for her mother when the accused called her in a nearby bush with the help of her friend at Moira Village and sexually penetrated her.
“I submit that the prosecution has proven it case beyond all reasonable doubt against the accused person. I therefore hold the accused guilty as charged of sexual penetration. He is therefore sentenced to twenty years imprisonment,” he ordered.
