By Jeneba A Conteh
Susan Komba on Monday, October 7, 2022, made another appearance before Magistrate Mark Ngegba of the Pademba Road Court No. 1 for alleged manslaughter contrary to law.
Police alleged that the accused on Wednesday, December 1,2021, at Block N-9, Grafton Police Barracks in Freetown, unlawfully killed Denis Komba.
Led in evidence by Sergeant 9155 Marcathy, Inspector Mathew, attached at the homicide unit CID HQ recognized the accused and also Knew Aiah Komba, complainant in the matter.
He recalled on 20 December, 2021, when he was on duty and received a transfer enquiry file from Grafton Police Station for the offense of alleged murder.
Inspector Mathew further testified that the file contained statement of the deceased when he was alive and his pictures when he was admitted at the Chinese hospital and also statements of witnesses.
The statement of the deceased was tendered as exhibit B1-2.
The witness stated that on 20 December, 2021, in a written form, forwarded a postmortem request to the government pathologist for postmortem examination to be conducted on the deceased, adding that on the 7 January 2022 he and the Scene Of Crime Officer D.P.C 13274 Hassan Bangura, together with family members of the deceased and the accused, gathered at Connaught Mortuary to observe the postmortem examination of the deceased.
He said at the end of the postmortem examination, the photocopy of the postmortem report was handed to him while the original was given to the son of the deceased for proper burial.
The witness was about to tender the photocopy of the postmortem result when defense counsel objected that the witness was not the right person to tender the document, as there were technical terms stated in the document that the witness would not be able to answer when doing his cross examination.
In reply, the prosecutor, Sergeant 9155 Marcathy said the witness was the right person fit to tender the document as he made the request and that he was the recipient of the document.
The defense’s objection was overruled by Magistrate Ngegba and the document was tendered as exhibit G to form part of the prosecution’s case.
The witness further stated that on 22 January he and a team of police officers left the station for Grafton police barracks to revisit the scene, adding that upon their arrival at block nine (9) where the deceased was residing, Aiah Komba showed them the scene where the incident took place.
Inspect Mathew said on 17 January, 2022 he further interviewed the accused by observing the Judges Rules and the Interview statement was tendered as exhibit H1-8.
He continued that on 26 January 2022 the accused was finally interviewed and charged with the offense of manslaughter. The charge statement was also tendered as exhibit J1-3.
During Cross examination by defense counsel, the witness said the accused in her statement said there was a fight between them, and that the accused had claimed in her statement to the police that, the deceased slapped her.
He said he didn’t go to the Chinese hospital at Jui to take statement from the medical practitioner.
The witness was asked if the accused was present during postmortem examination and he responded that it is not in law that the accused must be present when postmortem examination is done, adding that the accused’s family members were present. He further recalled that the accused denied the allegation.
Meanwhile, the prosecution has closed it case and the defense counsel promised to make a no case submission on the next adjourned date.
The accused is on bail and the matter was adjourned to the 21 November 2022.
