The 2018 Presidential candidate and former Alliance Democratic Party (ADP) Leader, Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray’s lead defence lawyer, Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai has expressed hope that he and the team of lawyers will appeal against the ruling made by the judge on Friday, 17 February 2023.

Lawyer Saffa Abdulai made this revelation in an interview with Lamrana Bah on African Young VoicesTelevision (AYV) after the judgment went against his client, a judgment he tagged as “unjust and doesn’t depict the true nature of the evidence presented to the court”.

Mansaray was sentenced by Justice Samuel O. Taylor to the Maximum Male Correctional Facility on Pademba Road, Freetown.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Taylor said that the Accused was brought before his Court for sexually penetrating a 15-year-old minor, as testified by witnesses of the case.

The Accused was arrested in July 2020 and he has been in detention since August 2020.

According to the State Attorney, Umu Sumaray who prosecuted the matter, Kamarainba was found guilty in counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8 and was sentenced to 17 years in prison to run concurrently.

The second accused Marion Aruni (a guardian to the 15-year-old minor) was found guilty in counts 6 and 7 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison to run concurrently.

The lead defense counsel for Kamarainba informed that his team would not rest until their client gets justice, adding that there are several grounds for appeal that the team will take advantage of to seek justice for his client.