Legal Aid secures the discharge of Port Loko child
The Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board has secured the discharge of a fourteen (14)
year school boy from Port Loko. The boy was arrested on 10 August 2016 for
house breaking. He was kept in police cell for twenty days before the matter was
charged to court.
He spent time on remand at the Prison in Port Loko before the Magistrate
transferred his case to the juvenile court in Freetown on September 3. Whilst in
Freetown, he was remanded at the Dems Juvenile Home in Kingtom.
Lawyer for the Legal Aid Board, Joel Deen-Tarawally represented him in Court. He
made an application for the matter to be discharged for want of prosecution
pursuant to Section 94 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1965.
He told the court that the complainant had appeared in court once despite
several adjournments. He argued that it is unfair to continue to keep the offender
in detention in a matter the complainant has not taken seriously. The application
was consequently granted by Magistrate Atto During.
During pre-discharge briefing at the head office of the Legal Aid Board in Fretown
the boy denied committing the crime he was charged with. He said he was
arrested because the police could not track the prime suspect who fled the scene
upon seeing the police. ‘I was arrested in the carpentry workshop where I work
after school,’ he said.
The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles
told the boy that he has a bright future and urged him not waste any time in
returning to school while handing him over to the President of the Sierra Leone
Drivers Union, Alpha Amadu Bah who will provide him free transportation to Port
Loko Town.
By: Joseph Dumbuya
The Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board has secured the discharge of a fourteen (14)
year school boy from Port Loko. The boy was arrested on 10 August 2016 for
house breaking. He was kept in police cell for twenty days before the matter was
charged to court.
He spent time on remand at the Prison in Port Loko before the Magistrate
transferred his case to the juvenile court in Freetown on September 3. Whilst in
Freetown, he was remanded at the Dems Juvenile Home in Kingtom.
Lawyer for the Legal Aid Board, Joel Deen-Tarawally represented him in Court. He
made an application for the matter to be discharged for want of prosecution
pursuant to Section 94 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1965.
He told the court that the complainant had appeared in court once despite
several adjournments. He argued that it is unfair to continue to keep the offender
in detention in a matter the complainant has not taken seriously. The application
was consequently granted by Magistrate Atto During.
During pre-discharge briefing at the head office of the Legal Aid Board in Fretown
the boy denied committing the crime he was charged with. He said he was
arrested because the police could not track the prime suspect who fled the scene
upon seeing the police. ‘I was arrested in the carpentry workshop where I work
after school,’ he said.
The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles
told the boy that he has a bright future and urged him not waste any time in
returning to school while handing him over to the President of the Sierra Leone
Drivers Union, Alpha Amadu Bah who will provide him free transportation to Port
Loko Town.
By: Joseph Dumbuya
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