By Francis H. Murray
Cordelia Jackson, a business woman in Freetown who alleges that one Fatmata Kargbo stole the sum of Le 50,000,000 from her, has testified before Magistrate Hannah Bonnie in the ongoing preliminary investigation into a one count charge of larceny in a dwelling house against the accused.
Madam Jackson told the court that on Tuesday 28th April, 2020, she left her house for the town center while her adopted daughter, Kadiatu Turay, remained at home. She said: “I left my room intact with the money in a box and instructed my adopted daughter to meet me at the shop after cleaning the house. When I returned from town, I went straight to my shop. I was there when my neighbour called me to return to the house immediately.”
She said on arrival she found her daughter crying and she asked her for her own key to the house but she got no response because her daughter was still crying, adding that she used her own key to open the door and she immediately went into her room where she found the box open with no money in it.
She added that her daughter told her about a certain woman who went to the house and claimed she went there “to collect something.”
The witness said that she reported the matter to the Adonkia police station where statement was obtained from her, followed by her adopted daughter’s the following day.
She said two weeks after, she received a call from one of her friends telling her to go to the Adonkia police station to enquire about the status of the investigation into the stolen money.
At the police station, the witness said she was told that the suspect (Fatmata Kargbo) had been released on bail to report to the station later in the day.
She said a search was executed at the home of the suspect on the same day, followed by an identification parade at which her adopted daughter and her neighbour identified the suspect as the woman who went to her premises, upon which the matter was referred to the CID headquarters.
Police persecutors alleged that the accused entered the house of Cordelia Jackson, the complainant, on the 28th April 2020 and stole $3000, equivalent of Le30, 000,000 and a cash of Le 20,000,000, totalling Le50, 000,000.
During cross examination of the witness by lawyer Ibrahim Macfoy, she told the court that the accused was seen before the identification parade and that no description was made about her to anyone else.
The accused is on a Le 50, 000, 000 bail. The matter comes up again on the 26th June 2020.
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