By Amadou Jadama
Magistrate Pirrette Mendy Sarr of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court yesterday convicted and sentenced three Sierra Leoneans to various fines, plus an order for their deportation.
They were found guilty on three counts of forgery.
According to the charge sheet, the Ibrahim Sesay, Adamie Kamara and Albert V. Young, conspired to forge a Gambia Immigration residential permit, a Gambia High School certificate, a GTTI certificate and a WAEC certificate.
Police Supt Bakary Njie said: “One of the suspects Abdou Asize Touray, was apprehended with a suspicious residential permit by the Immigration intelligence officers and taken to the Immigration post in Senegambia. During the interrogation he told the officers that Albert V. Young prepared the document for him. After further investigations, Albert too was arrested by the intelligenc officers and he revealed that the permit was prepared by Ibrahim Sesay, who was also arrested later and taken to his shop in Sukuta where a lamination machine, printer, and a computer were found. Later Adamie Camara was also arrested,” he said.
Supt Njie further disclosed that a search was conducted in Camara’s house where a GTTI certificate, a Gambia High School certificate, a WAEC certificate as well as a Gambia High School transcript were recovered.
According to Supt Njie, the Gambia Immigration Department wrote a letter to WAEC and GTTI to ascertain the documents and both confirmed that the documents are false.
“Looking at the nature of the offence, it threatens the Immigration Department which could suffer revenue loss not to talk about the school documents that were compromised. Forging national documents is rampart in our country,” the policeman said.
In their plea of mitigation, the convicts begged the court to tamper justice with mercy, arguing that they are all family men and this is their first time.
However, Magistrate Mendy on count one fined each of them D10, 000 dalasi in default to serve one year in prison. On count two she fined Ibrahim Sesay D20, 000 dalasi in default to serve one year in prison, while on count three she also fined Ibrahim Sesay and Adamie Camara D25, 000 dalasi in default to serve 2 years in prison.
