By Prince Musa in Kenema
The Resident Magistrate of Kenema, Joseph Tobby has expressed fear for his safety saying he is worried that he may be harmed by an OSD officer.
The officer, Lamina Kallon, was his state-assigned guard and has now fled after allegedly stealing from his residence.
Expressing “serious doubts” about the conduct of the police force itself, Magistrate Tobby said: “I am disturbed in mind about state of security because if a police officer that should protect civilians now turns to do such thing then what is happening”.
Speaking to Politico, he accused his security guard of carting away items worth over Le 10 million as he allegedly robbed his home after he had left for Freetown to see his family.
“This incident occurred in my absence when government made proclamation for the closing of court proceedings because of the COVID-19. I left for Freetown to see my family. I handed over my keys to the OSD officer since he is my state security,” Magistrate Tobby said.
He said he took away a church offering box with Le 7 million for the church, one iPad and one Samsung Galaxy mobile phone.
Tobby said he had since reported the incident to the Police in the district but had been frustrated by the lack of attention the police in the district had given the case, over a month since he made his complaint.
“Since this matter was reported to the police, nothing has been done about it. I have not got any tangible information from the police on my case. I was only told that Lamina Kallon, the police officer is on the run”, the magistrate said. But added: “I have been informed that he is in town, hiding.”
Police spokesman in the district Sergeant Brima James Musa told Politico that they had made some efforts to investigate the issue and they would continue to do so.
”Yes we have got that report but the bottleneck now is that the officer is on the run,” Sgt Musa said. He went on: “police may not want to make any pronouncement on this matter until the suspect is with the police. As a force we will not tolerate such people in this profession.”
Sgt. Brima said a warrant had been issued for officer Kallon’s arrest.
Thomas Kai Combay, an officer attached with the CDIID, a unit responsible to investigate the officer told Politico that Kallon had escaped because they didn’t get the file early enough.
“We blame the [police] High Branch where the matter was initially reported. He escaped before the file was given to us,” Combay said.
Combay said their investigations had shown that Kallon left his weapon with his brother before he escaped. Kallon’s brother is also an officer. On Monday Politico confirmed that he hadn’t been brought in for questioning regarding his brother’s whereabouts.
Combay said they would be recommending his dismissal if he continued to stay in hiding.
The Magistrate has now been assigned another officer to guard him.
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