By: Ibrahim Kabba Turay
At the Siaka Stevens Street High Court in Freetown on Wednesday 22nd April 2020, Justice John Bosco-Alieu sentenced Michael Jackson a police officer for a period of twenty years imprisonment.
Michael Jackson was charged to court on two separate files of sexual penetration. The allegation in the first file was that Jackson sexually penetrated a sixteen-year-old boy while under his watch at the Wilberforce police post on 20th July 2016.
According to the victim’s testimony at the Magistrate Court, the accused (Jackson) who was in charge of the male cell during that night, called him out of the cell and forcefully had sexual intercourse with the 16-year-old through his anus, adding that the accused threatened to burn him with a lighted cigarette if he refused.
Although the accused person denied the allegation against him, one of the witnesses told the High Court in his testimony that the accused confessed to him that he had sex with the victim but not in the anus rather it was between his legs.
The Judge delivering the judgment in this file said what is uncontroverted was that the victim was in the custody of the night orderly but the controversy was in the manner of sex.
He referenced the provisions of the law in which it is stated that the act can be done on any part of the body stating therefore that having sex between the legs amount to sexual penetration. The Judge found Jackson guilty and sentenced him to ten years in prison.
In the second file, Jackson is also accused of sexually penetrating a 17-year-old boy while under his watch at the Wilberforce police post on 28th November 2015.
According to the evidence, the accused removed the victim from the cell without making any entry, bought him food and volunteer to call his parents so that they can plead with the complainant.
The accused then demanded sex from the victim and when he refused, the accused grabbed him and forcefully had sexual intercourse with the victim through his anus. The victim fell ill and vomited.
Jackson then tore the victim’s statement from the case file and threw it over the window.
The Judge said though there was no independent witness, the evidence was corroborating. He noted that the accused removed the victim out of the cell without making any entry. He also questioned why the victim’s statement for larceny was torn and thrown out of the window.
The Judge said these were circumstantial evidence which corroborates the victim’s testimony. He added that the accused was in breach of police procedure. He convicted Jackson.
Although Cecelia Tucker the defence counsel pleaded with the Judge to temper justice with mercy as he was a father of two young children, the State prosecutor, Alberta Kargbo said the convict was not a first time offender. She urged the judge to hand down the maximum sentence. Michael Jackson was sentenced to ten years in prison. The sentence will run consecutively.
