Legal Aid and Traders on crime in Waterloo

Legal Aid and Traders on crime in Waterloo

The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles has disclosed plans to set up a committee to bring down the crime rate in Waterloo and its environs. The committee will comprise stakeholders including representatives of the Petty Traders Association and trusted intermediaries.  Ms. Carlton-Hanciles was speaking to a cross section of the executive of the Petty Traders Association for the Western Area Rural District who had called on her on Wednesday, July 27.

‘The committee will be responsible for settling any matter that is not a crime,’ Ms. Carlton-Hanciles said. ‘We are talking of matters of debts, disputes between husband and wife and landlord and tenant. This should help decongest the police and the courts.’ 

Ms. Carlton-Hanciles drew attention to the high crime rate in Waterloo which accounts for the highest in the Western Area. She added that rape is one of the most common crimes in the area.   ‘We are providing a lot of assistance to petty traders from Waterloo,’ Carlton-Hanciles said. ‘The Board’s lawyers are handling a lot of cases from Waterloo at the Ross Road High Court.’

She sounded a note of caution that the Board does not have the personnel to service all the cases in waterloo. ‘We will be deploying a full-time lawyer in Waterloo in the near future to ameliorate the situation,’ she said.

Ms. Carlton-Hanciles told her guests that the Legal Aid Board is in discussion with the health authorities for the provision of free medical care to remand detainees and ex-convicts who are unwell at the time of their release. ‘Some have received free medical care but we want to formalize things’ she said. ‘This is why I will be meeting with the Chief Medical Officer to chart a way forward.’

The Chairperson for the Petty Traders Association of the Western Area Rural District, Albert Tarawally lauded the Board for assisting its members in conflict with the law. He noted that they are aware of the high crime rate in their area noting that they are happy to be part of the committee that is being proposed by the Board.

Tarawally called on the Board to help mediate a matter involving a piece of land along the Tombo Junction at the Waterloo Lorry Park which is the subject of Court matter between the Association and a group laying claim to it. ‘Whilst we have got papers for the land, the other party does not have any,’ Tarawally said.  ‘A portion of the land has already been sold by this group.’   He intimated that the land was donated to the Association by one Pa Davies.

Other members of the delegation include the Chairlady for the Association Fanta Baryoh, Chief Adviser, Alie Kamara, Adviser II, Mohamed Kamara and Secretary Samuel John Fomba.

By: Joseph Dumbuya