On early Tuesday, 19th October, 2021 complainants, onlookers were in total shocked to witness fire engulfing case files at the BO magistrate court No.2 which occurred around 1a.m in BO city.

Speaking to A-Z Newspaper, complainants said they went for their cases at the court but were shocked and dismayed at what they saw.

One Brima expressed discomfort and worries as to how cases with be tried since case files are not digitalize, adding this is a big lost to him as he brought a case of larceny to the said court for trial.

Janet Pratt said, “when I heard about the burning of the court I did not believe until when I came and saw the building myself. This is painful as the accuse in the court are going to walk free from the court. But I am waiting to see what will happen with our cases before the court.”

The Police Media Officer of the Sierra Leone Police in the Southern Region, Inspector Mohamed Bobson Senu said that when the incident took place, the police rushed to the scene but cannot ascertain the cause of the accident but confirmed that the court clerk was invited for interrogation.

He said that nobody has been arrested yet for interrogation in connection with the fire disaster as suspect, but insist that investigation is ongoing.

While some Prison officers of the Bo Correctional Centre expressed fear that they were terrified at the fire outbreak as they have a lot of inmates in their custody, with the court located very close to the correctional center.

The Prison officers said that they are suggesting that structures should not be closer to the correctional centers as it has a lot of implications, noting that had it not been for divine intervention the fire would have extended to the Bo Prison which would have been disastrous for the inmates in their custody.

Some officers of the Fire Force in Bo said that the intervention of force help the situation as fire would have jumped on to the other buildings around the court no.2 including the Bo Prison.

They claimed that from their investigations the fire   broke out at 1a.m on Tuesday morning and they were called and promptly responded.

The fire force officers said that they will not conclude now on the cause of the fire accident but investigation is in progress.

Some Civil Society Activists in Bo called on Fire Force and the police to expedite their investigations and let their findings go to the public domain to further their investigation.

It could be recalled that the court No.2 in Bo was temporally relocated to the burnt current structure in order to reconstruct a new one, which is ongoing in the district.