A Freetown courtroom has drawn the curtain on a horrific crime that gripped the country, delivering a stark message on the high cost of violent crime, reports said on Thursday.
Justice Alhaji Mohamed Momoh‑Jah Stevens has ordered five men to spend the next 80 years behind bars for their roles in the brutal murder and robbery of Reverend Father Augustine Dauda Amadu in Kenema City.
The severe penalties mark the conclusion of a fast-tracked trial at High Court No. 1. The five primary convicts—identified as Martin Sallu, Gbessay Swaray, Foday Sallu, John Bangali, and Joseph Gikamadi Kamara—all traveled from Bo City before executing what prosecutors described as a coordinated plot. They were found guilty on multiple aggravated charges, including conspiracy and murder. Because Justice Stevens ordered the sentences for their various counts to run consecutively, the men face what amounts to a lifetime behind bars.
A sixth individual, 24-year-old Waterloo merchant Foday Alhasan Sesay, was also pulled into the judicial dragnet. Though not directly tied to the physical assault, Sesay was handed a 14-year prison term after being found guilty of receiving stolen property. Investigators successfully traced the late priest’s missing laptop directly to him.
“Today, in less than a year, justice has been served dispassionately and without delay,” Justice Stevens remarked, flatly denying the defendants’ last-minute emotional pleas for leniency.
The presiding judge noted that the swift resolution of the five-count indictment is a direct result of ongoing structural overhauls initiated by Chief Justice Komba Kamanda, aimed at preventing high-profile criminal files from stalling in the legal system. Justice Stevens ultimately closed the proceedings by praising the sharp litigation from both sides of the aisle, acknowledging state prosecutor Patrick L. Williams and Legal Aid Board defense attorney A. Morrison for their meticulous handling of the sensitive case.
ABJ/APA