In a significant legal development, Fatmata Kamara has received a 24-year prison sentence from Justice Adrien Fisher of the Freetown High Court for the heart-wrenching murder of her newborn baby.
The verdict was delivered on Thursday, August 31, 2023.
Kamara stood trial on a one-count charge of murder, stemming from the tragic accusation of disposing of her newborn child into a toilet pit.
The details of the case reveal that on October 20, 2019, in Freetown, Western Area, Republic of Sierra Leone, Fatmata Kamara took the life of her infant by discarding the baby into a toilet pit. During the court proceedings, she admitted her guilt to the murder charge.
During the trial, State Prosecutor S.C. Kekura Esq requested a change in the charge from murder to manslaughter, citing amendments to the relevant legal sections that aligned with the nature of the offense.
Kekura explained that the defendant had been impregnated by a married man and made several attempts to terminate the pregnancy. Tragically, during a natural event, she forcefully expelled the baby, who ended up in the toilet pit.
The prosecutor also informed the court that a concerned neighbor heard the baby’s cries, rushed the infant to the hospital, where a 21-day observation ensued, but regrettably, the baby did not survive.
In her defense, counsel I. Bangura Esq argued that Kamara was overwhelmed by the distress of conceiving a child with a married man. Late at night, she resorted to the toilet as a desperate measure to dispose of the baby, even resorting to self-administered native pills in a misguided attempt to abort the pregnancy.
Justice Adrian Fisher, in his deliberation, acknowledged the gravity of the case, highlighting that Kamara had alternative choices, such as giving the child to someone, rather than the tragic toilet pit disposal.
Consequently, Justice Adrian Fisher imposed a 24-year prison sentence on Fatmata Kamara, underscoring the seriousness of the crime and the need for a corresponding punishment.
