{"id":2012,"date":"2025-05-21T16:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/?p=2012"},"modified":"2025-05-21T16:00:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:00:14","slug":"murder-trial-of-journalist-samuel-mattia-takes-critical-turn-during-cross-examination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/?p=2012","title":{"rendered":"Murder Trial of Journalist Samuel Mattia Takes Critical Turn During Cross-Examination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" src=\"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/HUIO.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2013\" style=\"width:533px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By Mamajah Jalloh | 20 May 2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ongoing murder trial of journalist <strong>Samuel Brima Mattia<\/strong> took a significant turn on Tuesday, <strong>May 20, 2025<\/strong>, during the <strong>cross-examination of a prosecution witness<\/strong> at <strong>Pademba Road Court No. 1<\/strong>, presided over by <strong>Magistrate Sahr Kekura<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The accused in the case include fellow journalist <strong>Joseph Mendel Lamin<\/strong>, popularly known as <em>&#8220;Manager Dust&#8221;<\/em>, commercial bike rider <strong>Morlia Kamara<\/strong>, and driver <strong>Umaru Timbo<\/strong>. The trio faces <strong>two counts<\/strong>: <strong>conspiracy to commit murder<\/strong> and <strong>murder<\/strong>, in violation of the <em>Offences Against the Person Act 1861<\/em>, as amended by the <em>Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 2021<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the prosecution, the accused allegedly conspired to murder Mattia on <strong>January 15, 2025<\/strong>, at the <strong>Voice of Peace and Development (VOPAD) Radio Station<\/strong> in <strong>Kissi Town, Waterloo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During Tuesday\u2019s proceedings, <strong>lead defense counsel M. Baratay<\/strong> challenged the validity of statements obtained from the accused, citing inconsistencies and procedural lapses. Under cross-examination, the prosecution witness confirmed that he, along with <strong>Inspectors Matthew and Foday<\/strong>, was present during the initial statement-taking process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked whether all three accused were present at the same time during the recording of their statements, the witness clarified that <strong>only the first accused<\/strong> was initially present. The second and third accused were reportedly brought in at a later stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The defense pressed further, questioning whether the accused had legal representation during the statement recordings. The witness acknowledged that <strong>no lawyer was present at the beginning<\/strong>, and while one arrived later, the defense argued that this lawyer did <strong>not provide active legal assistance<\/strong> during the initial interrogation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A document labeled <strong>Exhibit B1\u201325<\/strong> was tendered in court. The witness testified that the document had been passed to him by a colleague and was <strong>not originally authored by him<\/strong>, though it was in his custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the witness stated he had taken a <strong>charge statement<\/strong> from the accused, the <strong>State Counsel objected<\/strong>, claiming that <strong>no formal charge statement<\/strong> was present in the official case file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a surprising move, Defense Counsel Baratay first requested an adjournment, then suddenly decided to proceed. This prompted <strong>Magistrate Kekura<\/strong> to object to the confusion and inconsistency caused by the defense. Citing <strong>procedural irregularities<\/strong>, he <strong>adjourned the matter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case is set to <strong>continue on May 27, 2025<\/strong>, for further hearings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mamajah Jalloh | 20 May 2025 The ongoing murder trial of journalist Samuel Brima&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2014,"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions\/2014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vindicatorslnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}