There was a chilling moment of sadness in the High Court presided over by Justice Mary Sey yesterday when Magistrate Adrian Jocelyn Fisher was pronounced guilty on 20 count charges of misappropriation of public funds and sentenced to a 5 million Leones fine on each count or in default – five years imprisonment.
Justice Mary Sey sternly ordered that the fine be paid forthright.
The Anti Corruption Commission had alleged that “Adrian Jocelyn Fisher a Presiding Magistrate at court No. 1 Bo, on a date unknown between 4th June and 30th June 2008, at Bo in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone in a matter listed as C/263/08, The Inspector General of Police Vs Augustine Cole, Sulaiman Barrie, Mohamed Sinneh Kargbo and Brima Sorie Sillah imposed a fine of Le250, 000.”
The indictment went on to state that Magistrate Fisher “misappropriated public funds, by willfully depriving the Government of Sierra Leone of the sum of Le.150, 000.00 out of the sum of Le 250,000 fine.
Passing verdict, Justice Mary Sey said that having carefully considered all the witnesses tendered by the Prosecution and defence, “I believe the testimonies of the first, second and third Prosecution witnesses to be true.”
She went on “In my view, the Prosecution has laid sufficient evidence that the accused deprived the government of public funds”.
She ventured further that “considering the evidence both orally and verbally, I found the evidence so strong against the accused person” adding “As a Magistrate he was expected to uphold the dignity and lead by example”.
Asked to respond before his sentence, Magistrate Fisher stood up in a down cast mood and thanked the court for their patience over his matter. He appealed to the court to take into consideration his age, young family, current medical status and the fact that he has two aged parents and that he is the only child to them. He told the court that they have already suffered in terms of medical health as a result of this case.
Magistrate Fisher also stated: “All my adult life in the United Kingdom I was not convicted there. All I have to say is that I came to this country as a young man with my knowledge to work for my country. I plead for all I have done wrong”.
Backing his plea, one of his defence Lawyers Blyden Jenkins Johnston said: “I have never felt as sad as I do now in this court”.
He stated that the accused has addressed the court and I believe he has said all the things that need to be said.
Jenkins Johnston also stated “It is unfortunate that the matter has come to this point, we in the Defence have not been able to convince the courts in terms of various points raised in our defence”.
He asked the Judge not to impose custodial sentence on the accused person.
After listening to the pleas made by the accused and his Lawyer, Justice, Mary Sey said: “I hereby sentence you to 5 Million Leones on each of the 20 count charges to be paid forthright. In default of this – 5 years imprisonment”.
His Lawyer again made an application under Section 233 of the Criminal Procedure Act asking the judge to consider the quantum of money alleged against the accused in the indictment.
He asked the court to consider the income of the accused while he was working as a Magistrate. The accused, he said needs time to raise that amount of money, adding that if she refused the application then the custodial sentence will be imposed.
The Judge refused the application and ordered that the money be paid forthright.
