By Richmond B. Tholley
The Sierra Leone Police has on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, arrested a man who went into hiding after he allegedly blinded his rival with acid in the northern town of Mile 91.
Sources from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Mile 91 Police Station have reliably informed our medium that Abdul Kassim Turay is currently detained at the Mile 91 Police Division for allegedly pouring acid on Ibrahim Conteh.
Turay had been in hiding since the incident occurred, and he was attempting to cross to Lungi from Freetown using a ferry when he was spotted by someone with direct knowledge of the incident.
The said individual informed police officers around the Kissy Terminals in Freetown, and he was arrested, according to the sources from the Mile 91 Police Station.
The police in Freetown later contacted the Mile 91 Police Station and successfully moved Turay to Mile 91, where the incident occurred.
Abdul Kassim Turay, the primary suspect in respect of the matter, has been arrested, and he’s now in our custody,” according to a police investigator attached to the Mile 91 Police Division.
It could be recalled that on Thursday, August 22, 2024, one Ibrahim Conteh, an employee of Miro Forestry Company residing in the New Site area in Mile 91, Tonkolili District, was accompanied to the Mile 91 Police Station by a cross section of family members who reported that an unknown individual threw a substance on his face.
At the time of the report, police investigators informed this medium that blood was oozing out from the eyes of the victim.
Conteh, the victim was on nightshift, and he was on his way to work when his attacker came from the other side of the road and threw the acid on his face. Eyewitnesses said they heard him crying for help.
Though the people around him ended up leading him home, they couldn’t save Conteh from losing his eyesight because the perpetrator had done the act before they could reach the scene.
A few hours after the incident, it was revealed that Abdul Kassim Turay, the now suspect in custody, was the one that attacked the victim.
According to reports from multiple sources, Abdul Kassim Turay and the victim have been at loggerheads over a woman. On several occasions, the family confirmed that the now suspect in custody had been to the house, asking the family to warn Conteh to stay away from his girlfriend.
“In fact, he [Turay] wrote a letter of warning recently that if Conteh does not stay away from his girlfriend, he would see something that the victim will never forget,” Adamasay Conteh, a family member, informed our medium.
The disappearance of Turay immediately after the alleged incident left the majority here with the conviction that he perpetrated the act.
Lately, a medical report has confirmed the substance left the victim with severe damage to both eyes and that he requires urgent attention.
Though he was responding to treatment in Freetown, a family member has lately informed our medium that the doctors have confirmed their brother has lost his eyesight and he won’t see with both eyes again.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department of the Mile 91 Police Division is investigating the matter. According to a police source, Turay will soon be charged to court after a preliminary investigation.
