By Fatima Kpaka
Freetown, February 4, 2026: A 40-year-old driver, Abdulai Leigh, has been sentenced to one year in prison by Magistrate Mustapha Braima Jah of Pademba Road Court No.1 after being found guilty of fraud.
Leigh was charged with one count of obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 32(1) of the Larceny Act of 1916.
According to the particulars of offence, between 1st and 3rd October 2025 at Pipeline, Gloucester Village in the Mountain Rural District, Western Area, Freetown, Leigh obtained Le18,800 from Lamin Kenko Kamara by falsely pretending he had a TVS Star motorcycle (registration number AYS 148) for sale, knowing the claim to be false.
At the commencement of the matter, the defendant pleaded not guilty. Prosecutor Inspector Mabel M. Tarawally Esq. led her witness and subsequently closed the case for the prosecution, after which the file was withdrawn for ruling.
Delivering his judgment, Magistrate Jah said he had considered the prosecution’s submissions, the facts of the case, and the convict’s plea for leniency. However, he emphasized that such criminal conduct must not be tolerated within Freetown or Sierra Leone as a whole.
“Having heard the prosecution’s submission and the records of the convict, I am minded not to give an alternative sentence but to impose a custodial sentence. Such criminal conduct must not be entertained within the Freetown jurisdiction and by extension Sierra Leone,” Magistrate Jah stated.
He therefore sentenced Leigh to one year imprisonment.