The Legal Aid Board (LAB) has successfully secured the discharge of a 70-year-old visually impaired man charged with sexual penetration, along with three other accused persons, from the Freetown High Court.
Idrissa Kabia, a resident of Kwama in Koya Chiefdom, was freed on Monday, 19 October 2026, by Honourable Justice Manuela A.J. Harding for want of prosecution. The discharge ends nearly two years of court appearances, some of which Kabia attended while on bail.
Speaking at the Board’s head office on Wilberforce Street in Freetown, Kabia expressed gratitude for the LAB’s intervention.
He said the support had vindicated him of any wrongdoing, a position he had consistently maintained. Kabia described the ordeal as deeply traumatic, noting that the prolonged proceedings had shattered not only his own life but also that of his wife and five children.
In related cases, the Board also obtained the discharge of Ishmael Kamara, Omar Kamara and Chrispine Samuel Lebbie. The three men, charged separately with sexual penetration and with housebreaking and larceny, were likewise discharged by Justice Harding on the same day for want of prosecution. All four beneficiaries were represented by Counsel Egerton Saunders.
In her post-discharge briefing, LAB Executive Director Mrs Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles urged the men to treat their release as a lesson.
She reminded them that the Board’s resources are limited and that it may be unable to represent repeated offenders.
Mrs Carlton-Hanciles advised the beneficiaries to avoid any conduct that could attract police attention, stressing that Sierra Leone’s sexual offences laws apply equally regardless of age, status or disability.
She encouraged them to return to their communities and contribute positively.
