By Francis H. Murray
Magistrate Hannah Bonnie of the Pademba Road Magistrate Court has ruled that lead defense counsel in the treason trial of former Defense Minister, Alfred Paolo Conteh, shouldn’t ask questions that have the potential to expose the security arrangement at State House.
The ruling is part of ongoing preliminary hearing in the matter which also involved two other accused.
‘‘To my mind, if the question seems to take an answer from the prosecution witness No 1 (PW1) as to the security arrangement of State House, it is my considered view that such evidence should not be disclosed. I therefore uphold the objection raised by the prosecution and I rule that PW1 does not answer questions that would expose security arrangement at State House,’’ Magistrate Bonnie said on April 9, 2020, the 3rd hearing in the mater.
Rtd Major Conteh is on trial over allegation that he attempted to carry out by force an enterprise to wit an assassination of President Julius Maada Bio during a visit at State House. The former Defense Minister was part of a team of experts invited by the president to discuss the government’s plans to respond to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
Conteh was allegedly caught trying to take a loaded weapon into the premises of the presidency 9th of Mach, 2020.
The defense counsel, Ady Macauley, had asked about the availability of a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera at State House, a question the prosecution objected to.
Lead prosecutor, Adrian Fisher, argued that the information required was classified and therefore had public interest immunity, noting that the request went against the security of the state. Fisher added that the security arrangements at State House was an integral matter to national security and therefore could not be questioned openly.
The magistrate agreed, noting that although open justice required maximum disclosure in all criminal matters, the prosecution had a discretionary power to withhold evidence it considered sensitive in nature, which went against public interest and dealt with a national security issue.
Conteh was charged along with two other officials: Saa Antony Sinnah, Deputy Commissioner of the Small Arms Commission, and Prince George Hughes. All three accused persons face a total of 16 count charges, including treason, in the case of Conteh, possession of a small arms without a valid license and having a loaded arm in a public place.
Macauley, who is representing Conteh as the first accused, did not ask any question after Magistrate Bonnie’s ruling on Thursday, noting that most of the questions he had were based on the CCTV footage. But he reminded the Magistrate that his client had been in solitary confinement without access to books and clean clothes, despite an earlier court directive instructing for the prison authorities to grant access to his client and take better care of him.
Lawyer Roland Wright, representing the second accused, renewed his application for bail and pleaded with the court to allow his client to be admitted to the prison hospital, where he his “deplorable” health conditions could be monitored.
Lawyer Selwyn Nicol, who represents the third accused, warned that his client suffered from diabetes, asthma and low blood pressure, for which he also pleaded for the accused to be admitted in the prison hospital where his health condition could be monitored.
Hannah Bonnie denied all three accused persons’ bail request and then adjourned the matter to the 15th April. But the magistrate again ordered that the prison doctor reexamined the health situations of the second and third accused persons and make recommendations to the court.
Bonnie also requested for the prison operators to explain during the next adjourned date why the court’s directives relating to the accused persons wasn’t followed.
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