Sierra Leonean Woman Allegedly Defrauds US Navy Corpsman Over Le 1 Billion
A Sierra Leonean based in the United States of America Charles Theodor Bonney Taylor who works as a US Navy Corpsman on Monday 26th September, 2022 explained to the Court on how he was allegedly defrauded over US100,000 dollars by a Sierra Leonean woman.
The accused Mareella Sesay appeared before Magistrate Mark Ngegba at the Pademba Road Court No. 1 in Freetown to answer one count charge of fraudulent conversion contrary to law. According to the information before the Court, the accused person, Mareella Sesay between 23rd May 2019 to 19th April 2022, fraudulently converted to her use and benefit certain property, that is to say, the totatl sum of US111,750 dollars equivalent to the sum of one billion six hundred and forty-eight million three hundred and twelve thousand and five hundred old Leones. Le1,648,312,500
In his summary testimony, first prosecution witness (PW1) Charles Theodor Bonney Taylor recalled that on the aforesaid datres he was in the United States of America sending monies to the accused for a building project located at Hamilton in the West end of Freetown, noting that during that period, the building was at the foundation stage.
According to PW1, the first transaction was done through Western Union, adding that the started sending money on separate occasions in 2019.
He furthered that in 2020, he sent another sum of dollars through Western Union and Money Gram respectively, while in 2021, the transaction was done through his account in the US to Freetown, and in 2022 he made other bank transactions with the accused in Freetown. While the accused was showing him videos of a certain building which she claimed was the project at hand, the complainant and the victim disclosed that he came to know that the accused had not made any progress on the building project. At this stage, Prosecutor ASP Ibrahim S. Mansaray requested an adjournment for the PW1 to produce the said videos in court to form part of the evidence.
Defence Counsel A.R Mansaray requested bail for his client citing section 79 of the Criminat Procedure Act 1965.
Magistrate Ngegba granted the accused bail in the sum of NLe200,000. Magistrate Ngegba ordered that the accused must produce 1 surety that is 40 year old and should be a Sierra Leonean employed in a recognized Institution.
He added that the surety should be a property owner valued not less than NLe500,000 with a valuation certificate. Magistrate Ngegba ordered that the bail condition should be approved by the Master and Registrar, while the matter comes up again on 10th October 2022.