Sierra Leone News: Court Martial: Formal Witnesses Testify
By Stephen V. Lansana
The sixth prosecution witness Lieutenant Col. Moriba Mohamed Kposowa has told the Court Martial that Families of the former Joint Presidential Guard Forces (JPGF) were occupant of the house closer to the septic tank where the ammunitions were found.
Lieutenant Col Moriba Mohamed Kposowa is the commander of JPGF. He is responsible to undertake all operational responsibilities within the presidency including making requisition for arms and ammunitions, among others.
In his testimony, he said that he was in his office at State House on June 18, 2018, when he received a phone call from one of the soldiers informing him about the said ammunitions.
“Upon received of this information, I left immediately to the deputy minister of defense and also to the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS). Unfortunately, the CDS was not at the ministry but the deputy was there,” Lieutenant Col Kposowa said. “I therefore explained the same thing that the soldier told me on phone. The deputy minister wasted no time, but himself and I came strength to the scene which was at the back of the Presidential Lounge at Hill Station.”
He said that upon arrival, they met military police, CID officers and other police officers at the scene. “The deputy minister made few enquiries. He tried to know who lived in those buildings and also the surrounding. He then required the CID personnel who were at the scene to jointly carryout the investigation regarding the ammunitions,” he said. “So, the instruction was given to remove the cover of the septic tank.”
He testified that before the removal of the ammunitions, it was advised that a technical man be invited to observe the process before removing the ammunitions. “I called one of our army technicians, who also helped in removing the ammunitions.”
He added that they counted the ammunitions and then himself and the deputy minister left. He identified the ammunitions and said “these are the types.” He disclosed that he became a commander in May 2018, stating that at that time, the president was staying at Juba. “That was where we deployed the JPGF. And we also deployed six soldiers at the entrance of the Presidential Lounge,” he said.
“During this time, the scene was not occupied by security personnel but by family members of the former guards. We inform the family members to leave those premises because the current presidential guards will be occupying the premises. But they didn’t do it until these ammunitions were found,” he testified.
He emphasized that the ammunition were found at the back of the Presidential Lounge Complex where the security personnel were staying.
He disclosed that he was at the scene when the ammunitions were removed. “When it was removed, I observed that some ammunition at the top was good but majority was rusty and it was not good.”
“I went to the logistic officer at our ammunition holding to check whether the ammunitions is missing or not. But there were no discrepancies in our holding,” he said. “In fact, from that time, even up till now, there are no 14.5 rounds in our holding.”
He said that he was invited at the CID to make a statement but due to his busy schedule he was not able. He therefore wrote a report to the police.
He produced and tendered the report and it was marked as exhibit ‘E’.
He stated that he knew Captain Patrick Kamara. “But Captain Kamara was not the main commander of the JPGF.”
During the cross-examination, defense counsel for the second accused, Lawyer D. Taylor asked him to tell the court what he saw when he reached at the scene. He said “When we reached at the scene, the area was taped. I observed that the slab was slightly opened,” he said.
Lawyer Taylor also asked him to tell his observation when the slab was completely opened. He said that when it was completely opened, the ammunitions were at the other side of the pit.
Asked whether there were security personnel at the back of the Lounge, he said “At the time I went there, there was no personnel at the house that was closer to the pit. But after this, I instructed RSM Jalloh to be patrolling the area,” he said.
The fifth prosecution witness, Detective Superintendent of Police, Mohamed K. Alieu testified that when they arrived at the scene, the septic tank was opened, and he saw ammunitions. He said that they instructed the removal of the ammunitions from the hole.
“The ammunitions were counted and pronounced to be of two separate categories by dimension. 14.5mm of AA rounds were confirmed to be 1606 and 12.7mm or AA rounds were counted to be 178 rounds,” he said.
Observing the rounds in court, he said, “I recognized the rounds by sizes. The bigger ones are 14.5 mm and the smaller ones are 12.7mm.”
He said that a team of military officers including Military Police headed by Major John Koroma were dispatch to the CID for us to do a joint investigation. “The ammunitions were taken by us as exhibits, and we took it to the CID and handed it to the exhibit clerk depend investigation.”
He testified that they conducted several interviews during the course of their investigation, and that the three accused persons were handed over to them. He said the accused were contemporaneously interviewed and their individual promises were searched, but nothing of relevant was found pertaining to their investigation.
“Throughout the investigation, the three accused were in the custody of the military,” he disclosed. “The investigation team contacted the Joint Logistics Unit at Murray Town. From the interviews conducted at the logistics unit, several accountable documents were tendered to us pertaining to ammunition,” he testified. “A certain document was tendered to us by Col. Albert Bockarie regarding the missing ammunitions.”
“We proceeded to the house near the septic tank but the place was locked, and there were spider webs. We went forward around the place and we saw a construction site which was above the foundation, and it was identified to be a site of a civilian,” he said. “I instructed the Scene of Crime Officer to take a photograph. We made an inquiry about the occupants: the house under construction was owned by a civilian called Albert Nyakeh Bio whilst the house which was closer to the septic tank was confirmed to be an occupant of the 1st accused [Captain Patrick E. Kamara].
“During the course of his [1st accused] investigation, we asked him that question and he confirmed it to be true and correct,” he added.
During the cross-examination, defense counsel for the 1st accused, Ady Macauley said that there are two investigations: the first is about the missing ammunition allegedly directed to the 1st accused, and the second investigation is about the ammunitions found in the septic tank, adding that he cannot conclude the cross-examination because the PW5 referenced certain documents. “So, I will want him to tender it so that we will have access to the said document,” Lawyer Macauley said.
Asked who was residing in that quarter at the time when the ammunitions were discovered, Superintendent Alieu said, “At the time of discovery, we did not meet anybody there.”
He added, “According to the 1st accused, he was residing at the quarter when he was with the [former president] president until April.”
When he was asked whether there were security personnel at the place, Superintendent Alieu said, “My finding was that, there was no security personnel deployed at the place at the time of my visit.”
The other defense counsels also said they will wait until Ady Macauley finishes with his cross-examination before they will do theirs.
Inspector Issa S. Dumbuya is the seventh prosecution witness. He is the Crime Scene Investigator working directly with the Scientific Support Unit at the CID headquarters.
In his testimony, he testified, “I visualize the area and I observed that a septic tank was partially opened and demarcated with tape. I went a distance and took a photograph. I went to the pit and I took the overhead of it to see the inside.”
He testified, “I saw some ammunition in it, covered with flora grass which was already decaying. I took photograph of it. After which I told some military officers at the scene to open it. I took a close up picture of it. Later, one of the military officers jumped into the pit and started digging the ammunition. I also took pictures of it.”
He said that after this exercise, the ammunitions were put separately according to its sizes. “The military officer counted the ammunition in my presence. The 14.5 mm was 1606 rounds and the 12.7 mm was 178 rounds respectively,” he said. “I was there taking photographs of each stage.”
He stated that after the counting, the ammunitions were loaded into eight bags. “At the end of the exercise, the bullets were taken to the CID which was later handed over to the exhibit clerk by Superintendent M. K. Alieu. I later went to the photo studio and printed the pictures that I took. After which, I returned to the office and compiled them into a photographic album comprising 27 pictures,” he testified.
He added, “The album has been in my possession and I am ready to tender it as exhibit.” The album was produced and tendered and it was marked exhibits F1–27.
During the cross-examination, D. Taylor request that the photo album should be made available to the defense counsels and the Judge advocate agreed with him.
Captain Patrick E. Kamara (1st accused); Warrant Officer Class 1, Samuel Conteh; and Warrant officer Class 2, Abu Bakarr Jalloh were accused to have committed a civil offence contrary to Section 72 of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) Act №34 of 1961 as amended, in that they allegedly conspired to steal.
It was alleged that between January 1st, 2008 and 19th June, 2018, in Freetown, with intent to steal from the government of Sierra Leone, conspired with other persons unknown to steal by unlawfully agreeing to steal 4,245 rounds of 12.7 millimeter AA rounds; 3,828 rounds of 14.5 millimeter AA rounds; 11 guns of RPG 6 rounds of 7.62/39 milimetres; 11,476 rounds of 7.62/39 milimetres gun; 14,100 rounds of 7.62/39 millimeters tracer; 6,740 rounds of 7.62/51 millimeters bird wink; 515 rounds of 9/18 millimeters, all to the value of $80,402.30 equivalent to Le 683,490,550, property of the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL).