Port Loko – A woman accused of stabbing her father to death during a family quarrel has been committed to stand trial for murder before the High Court in Port Loko.
Magistrate Harold Kamara, sitting at the Magistrate Court in Masiaka, committed Isatu Issa Conteh of Mathaineh Village, Mesimera Chiefdom, Port Loko District, on Friday, 25th September 2026, after finding that the prosecution had established a prima facie case.
Isatu is charged with the murder of her father, Issa Conteh, on 25th August 2026 at Mathaineh Village.
The prosecution, led by State Counsel I.B. Bangura Esq. for the Inspector-General of Police, alleged that the fatal stabbing occurred after Issa Conteh intervened in a quarrel between Isatu and her younger sister.
According to witness statements tendered in court, Isatu allegedly left the scene of the argument, went into the house, put on trousers, concealed a kitchen knife, and on return stabbed her father in the right leg.
A post-mortem certificate, tendered as Exhibit K, gave the cause of death as acute hemorrhagic shock due to a homicidal stab wound to the right medial thigh, 14 centimetres deep.
PW2, Hassan Kanu, and PW3, Adama Conteh, told police in statements that they saw the accused stab the deceased after he intervened. PW4, Adamsay Conteh, said she saw the deceased bleeding and saw Isatu drop the knife.
PW1, Alhaji Mohamed Fofanah, and PW5, Abu Turay, both said Isatu admitted to them separately that she stabbed her father during the quarrel.
The court also heard that police recovered an old black-handle stainless-steel kitchen knife, Exhibit Q, and tendered a forensic laboratory report, Exhibits M1-M2, on blood stains found on it, along with scene-of-crime photographs.
The accused, who was unrepresented, confirmed receiving all prosecution disclosures and told the court she did not wish to cross-examine the witnesses.
In her own voluntary cautioned statement, Exhibits G1-G21, she allegedly narrated how she took the knife and concealed it in her trousers before the confrontation that led to her father’s bleeding.
Magistrate Kamara emphasized that his role was not to determine guilt, but to assess whether sufficient evidence existed to warrant a trial at the High Court, in line with Section 110 of the Criminal Procedure Act No. 8 of 2024.
“I am satisfied that the state has established a prima facie case against the defendant, Isatu Issa Conteh,” he ruled.
She was therefore committed to stand trial at the High Court in Port Loko on a charge of murder under Section 1 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861, as replaced by the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 2022. Under current law, murder carries life imprisonment or a minimum term of 30 years, following the abolition of capital punishment.
The court ordered that she remain in custody pending her appearance before a High Court judge.
