Aug 28, 2020
Kamarainba appears sick, held without bail but lawyer fails to argue issue
By Dahlianah Thomas
FREETOWN (TV-News24) — Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray, former presidential candidate in the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential election lost his balance and fell thus, injuring his head because of the way he was handcuffed in custody, a defense attorney says Wednesday.
Lead counsel Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai told presiding Judge Samuel Taylor about the incident.
Lawyer Abdulai apologized on behalf of Kamarainba when the judge noticed him making restless movements during the proceedings — suddenly sitting and standing.
But inexplicably, Attorney Abdulai told the judge that the topic of Kamarainba’s reported head injury was ‘off the bench’.
And that, Attorney Abdulai continues, he didn’t want to bring the injury issue to the notice of the court — so, it would not appear as if he was attracting pity for his client.
Kamarainba was also denied bail when requested for a second time; and the judge said he would leave that decision with the trial judge — yet to be determined.
It is unclear which strategy the defense was trying to put together as the reported health of Kamarainba should have been a perfect issue to raise in support of his bail application.
However, TV-News24 did not observe external injuries on Kamarainba.
Kamarainba was in court for his alleged child sexual abuse case but the defense team asked the trial be delayed for few days — so, they could file an appeal with the appeals court to challenge an earlier reversal decision by the judge, denying defendant the right to jury trial.
The defense’s request for additional time to allow to file court of appeals motion was granted by Judge Taylor.
A co-accused Marion Arouni faces similar charges, and the case continues on Friday.
