By Mohamed Konneh
Authorities at the Sierra Leone Correctional Services have reacted to the story about the pardoned inmate that left their facility on wheelchair. The pardoned inmate according to records, was sick when he was taken to the Pademba Road Prisons, convicted of fraudulent conversion.
“This inmate was brought to the centre in a very bad condition alleged to have been beaten after he was caught stealing a motorbike. He was convicted and sentenced to two years and fined with the sum of Two Thousand New Leones,” Foday Ishmail, Manager of Pademba Road Prisons had said, adding that the inmate who gave his name as Alusine Kamara was Aruna Bangura.
The manager continued that the pardoned inmate was released based on medical grounds after spending six months of his jail term.He noted the inmate was brought into the centre unable to walk and had to be admitted at the Pademba Road’s Prisons health facility.
“The management of the Correctional Services did all we could in providing medication, but we did not have a physiotherapy centre neither the required medication. Our role at the centre is to keep convicts convicted by the court. This inmate was sick when he was brought in but we had no option but to keep him in jail,” he stated.
According to the case file obtained from the Pademba Road Prisons, Aruna Bangura was convicted for stealing a motor bike and sentenced to two years in jail. He spent six months behind bars and was among those pardoned on January 1st this year.
Court record shows Aruna was charged to court on 17th October, 2023, for the offense of fraudulent conversion. According our findings, this was a transferred case from Waterloo Court to Freetown. The pardoned inmate is said to have hailed from Kambia district and report says this was his 13th case of stealing a motor bike and converting them to his own use. Report also states his present condition was as a result of mobbed justice meted on him after he was caught.
