Notorious Sierra Leone Police AIG Memuna Conteh, Commander / Head of the Eastern Area Control Command, involve in another Police brutality in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It could be recalled that, few days ago, Honourable Member of Parliament Sho Sawyer was severely beaten, molested and detained for five hours by Police Officers under the Command of AIG Memuna Conteh. This time around, it’s the turn of journalist Edmondson Sonny Cole, commonly known as Sonny, to face the same humiliation, which Hon. Sawyer and other well-meaning Sierra Leoneans, had endured from AIG Memuna Conteh. Sonny known for his good skills, in handling the camera, was regarded by many as one of the best in the business of photo journalism. In his quest of performing his duties, he serve in various capacities in Sierra Leone as the leading cameraman at, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Television (SLBSTV), Ministry of Defence, State House under President Captain Valentine Strasser, President Julius Bio and President Tejan Kabbah respectively. Sonny presently a resident of Sydney, Australia, went to Freetown, alongside a colleague, to work on a documentary about their mother and father land Sierra Leone. His arrest came about, when he was trying to film a riot along the East End of Freetown. According Sonny, the so-called incident, was between two groups of hunting or devil societies, fighting for supremacy in their locality. The fighting between the two groups escalated to something intense, as a result, live bullets were fired by the Police Officers present, as a way to disperse the crowd. Whilst trying to put the situation under control, some heavy handed tactics were apply by the Police. Due to the heavy handed approach by the Police, pandemonium took place, people were running for their lives in different directions. Lots of people suffered from wounds, bruises and many other physical damages to their body. The Police did not stop there, they went further to forcefully knock locked doors with batons, guns and belts, threatening those inside to come out, or they will force their way in and arrested them. Watching from a distance of 40 metres, it was at this moment that, Sonny started rolling his camera, to capture what was happening right in front his eyes (Police brutality). Was busy filming, when he was approach by three Police men, asking him for his identity, which he produce, then they requested he gave them his camera, he suggested that, he was willing to hand over his camera, but only to one of their senior officers. They forcefully tried to grab the camera and all his belongings from him, which he insisted that, he can only hand over to someone with authority, because he will not be able to identify them, in case his camera got broken or missing. They eventually decided to manhandle him with their batons, belts and guns, even though he did identify himself correctly. Sonny’s arrested, molested, beaten by Sierra Leone Police and locked up at Pademba Road Prison in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He was released on bail, after spending couple of days and nights at the notorious Pademba Road Prison.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 13:21:34 +0000
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