Legal Aid Board Represents 71 Accused Persons
Freetown, 24 September 2025.
The Legal Aid Board (LAB) has provided representation to 71 accused persons arraigned at the just concluded September Criminal Session of the High Court held between Tuesday 16 September and Friday 19 September 2025 at the Freetown High Court No. 1 at Siaka Stevens Street, in Freetown.
The session, which coincided with the commencement of the new Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) 2024, was first presided over by the Honourable Chief Justice, His Lordship Justice Komba Kamanda, and later by the Honourable Justice, A.T Ganda, JA.
The accused persons were part of a total of 93 others, whose matters were called by the court, of which 8 were absent and 14 were represented by private counsels.
The beneficiaries were indicted on multiple offences ranging from conspiracy to commit migrant smuggling, to attempted human trafficking; bigamy; embezzlement; unlawful possession of drugs; manufacturing of prohibited drugs; conspiracy to defraud; murder; larceny in a dwelling house; wounding with intent; robbery; robbery with aggravation; assault with intent to rob; shop breaking and larceny; larceny from a person; fraudulent conversion, etc.
From the 71 accused persons represented by the Board, 26 had their matters completed, of which two were cautioned and discharged and 24 were sentenced to various prison terms.
Admonishing the two that were cautioned and discharged, the Executive Director of the Board, Ms Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles, warned them “not to get involve into anything that will be of police interest”, noting that the “Board is challenged with limited number of staff, especially lawyers, and will be constrained to provide representation to repeated offenders.”
She admonished the two to be satisfied with whatever little they have, adding that they must “go back to their communities and be good contributors.”
The beneficiaries were represented by Legal Aid Counsel: Cecilia Tucker Esq; Cyril Taylor-Younge Esq; Olu V. Garber Esq and Bankole C.E Morgan Esq.