By Francis H. Murray
Mrs. Kama Sesay, wife of Zaioux Sesay, who is deceased, allegedly murdered by seven men, testified at the High Court last Wednesday before Justice Monfred Sesay.
The witness recognized all the accused persons and admitted knowing the 2nd accused as her neighbor and as being among those who attacked her home sometime in 2017. She also recognized the 3rd accused as the son of her neighbor who is the fourth accused.
She recalled that she was home with her husband on the 12th of February, 2017 and that around mid-night she heard their dogs barking continuously. She said the deceased left their room saying he wanted to check what the barking was about.
‘‘I heard him pull a chair to sit on and he came in after a while, but did not close the door. So he went into the bathroom and later shouted please leave me alone! What have I done to you? I jumped from the bed and stood by the door of the room and saw two men whose faces were covered with masks. One of the men had a black gun which was wrapped in clothes,’’ she noted.
She said one of the attackers who had the gun held her husband by the neck and pulled him along, while the other pushed him from the back of his head with her husband still shouting ‘please leave me alone.’
The witness said she heard a voice which she recognized as that of the 3rd accused saying ‘drag him and bring him outside’.
‘‘They struggled to drag him away while he held on to the door frame with the gunman pointing his gun at the head of my husband. He then shot him in his head. He did it for the second time, leaving his head scattered. So there was blood everywhere. I shouted and they shot in my direction, but they missed me. I fell to the ground and could hear them running away,’’ she added.
She said she then raised an alarm which brought two people, including a prison officer, to the scene and that they searched for the keys to her husband’s cars and a certain amount of money but found nothing.
‘‘So I left them and started running from Hill Cut Road to Presidential Logue where I met some officers guarding a barricade and there I fell,’’ she continued.
The witness said she explained what had happened to the police officers who drove her in a van to the scene of the incident. She added that upon arrival at their home, one of the police officers began to inspect the rooms and found a brown torchlight in the bathroom and a pair of slippers, all of which were not theirs and that the police secured the scene until daybreak when she made a statement to the police.
Under cross-examination by lawyer A. S. Ndoleh, the witness told the court that she only saw two people who entered her house on the day of the incident with masks on their faces and that another one was outside the house and she recognized his voice.
Ms. Sesay told the court that she had earlier testified at the Magistrate’s Court that a grudge existed between her family and that of the accused persons, and denied that she named any of them on the basis of that grudge.
She noted that her son, Edward, was not personally involved in the arrest of the accused persons and that she could identify the 3rd accused by his voice because she had known him since he was a child.
State Prosecutor Joseph Sesay applied for protective measures to be used for the next witness whom he said had raised concerns about his security and wished to testify from behind a curtain. The application was granted and the witness was named Cloud 7.
Witness Cloud 7 recalled the 12th February that year when he experienced a running stomach which caused him to go to the toilet outside his house around 2am.
‘‘Then I heard footsteps coming my way. So I decided to hide. While in hiding, I heard two men coming and arguing between themselves, holding something in their hands, which was wrapped with clothes. One of them said, ‘we were not told to shoot the man and we’ve done it’.
According to Cloud 7, when he heard about shooting, he ran back to his house. He said the following night, the two people he heard speaking that night tried to force their way into his house but didn’t succeed and he heard them saying, ‘‘the boy who saw us yesterday ran into this house…Dust Let’s go.’’
The prosecution alleges that the accused persons; Daniel Sellu (alias Dust), John Junior Kamara (alias Little), Albert Momoh (alias Rasta), Alfred James Momoh (alias Lion), Mohamed Fernado Kanu (alias Juda), Christopher Sellu (alias Wizzy) and Alferd Sullay Momoh (alias Timaya) on diverse dates between 10th and the 12th of February 2017, in the Western Area of Freetown, conspired with other persons unknown to murder Zaioux Seasy.
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