COURY MARTIAL TRIAL (EPISODE 7)
20th September, 2024.
‘We are going to attack President Bio this night’ – Accused Tells Witness
I. One of the ARCHITECTS of the bloody November 26 Coup was the 9th Accused, Staff Sergeant Idrissa Kallon.
II. In the just concluded Court Martial trial involving the State versus Staff Sergeant Alhaji Koroma and 26 Others, the 9th Accused was slammed with MAXIMUM JAIL TERM of 120 years after being CONVICTED of all the 39 Counts of Mutiny, Conspiracy to Commit Mutiny, Failure to Suppress Mutiny, Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Communicating with the Enemy, Wilful Damage of Public or Service Property, Fraudulent Misapplication of Public or Service Property and Conduct to the Prejudice of Military Discipline.
III. In today’s EPISODE, we will look at whether there was any COMMUNICATION OF INTENT to overthrow President Bio.
IV. During the said trial, the Prosecution led several WITNESSES and tendered a number of EXHIBITS to prove that the INTENT to overthrow President Bio was indeed communicated.
V. The KEY WITNESS that testified with regards the communication of such intent was the 24th PROSECUTION WITNESS (PW 24). According to this witness, he was in Egypt on a training course on the day of the Coup. He told the Court that on the NIGHT of the execution of the Coup, the 9th Accused, Staff Sergeant Idrissa Kallon had sent him a voice message to his WhatsApp, revealing their INTENT TO ATTACK President Bio at his State Lodge that night.
VI “Hey Kelo, you are my brother. I will not hide anything from you. We are going to attack President Bio at his Lodge this night but keep my message dark. Pray for us. If we succeed, our sufferings will end and our lives will be better”, PW 24 revealed what the 9th Accused had confided in him that night. PW 24 also told the Court that after listening to the voice message, he immediately forwarded it to his Commanding Officer in Freetown.
VII This AUDIO EVIDENCE against the 9th Accused is published with this EPISODE together with other pictorial evidence where the 9th Accused was initially seen in the Juju Ceremony at Mapaki Village in preparation to overthrow the President, and also later seen in the attack on Pademba Road Corrections Centre on the day of the Coup.
VIII. Throughout the concluded Court Martial trial, the Defence Lawyer for the 9th Accused, Ady Macauley, NEVER challenged the admissibility of those evidence against his client. In fact, at the end of the Closing Submissions, Lawyer Macauley had this to say: “Mr President and Members of the Board, you have seen the evidence about the my client, the 9th Accused. As men of INTEGRITY, you are obliged to give your verdict based the evidence”.
IX. Earlier, in his Closing Submissions, the Defence Lawyer emphasized that the peace of this country was violated in the early hours of November 26, 2023 as peaceful citizens were woken up with heavy sounds of gunshots. “It is a fact that our collective sense of security was undermined. It is a case that there are people responsible for such act and those people MUST BE HELD to account. I, therefore, join the Prosecution in that call”, Lawyer Macauley told the Court Martial President and Board Members.
Major Yayah Brima,
Media Operations Officer,
Headquarters, Joint Force Command, Cockerill Barracks, Freetown.
Phone/WhatsApp: 078 452 876
