By: Nicholas Bass
The Brikama Magistrates’ Court on Monday imposed a two-year mandatory jail term on student Anna Sanneh after she was found guilty of child theft.
Anna Sanneh was also ordered to pay a compensation of D50,000 to the child’s family in default to serve another year in jail.
Earlier last year, Anna was arrested by the police for stealing a three-month-old baby in Lamin Daranka
She denied the charges but was subsequently found guilty after a trial at the lower court in Brikama presided over by magistrate Peter Adoh Che.
Anna blamed her action on poverty and begged the court to temper justice with mercy, saying she was a first-time offender.
”I am begging this honorable court and the family of the victim to forgive me because I have never been in detention. Please, consider my situation for I am currently in grade eleven,” she stated.
Anna said her education will be disrupted if handed a custodial sentence and, therefore, asked the court to give her another chance and promised that she would never repeat the crime if shown clemency.
She said she had given her biological child to a stranger at KowJunction and was afraid of a backlash from her boyfriend.
But according to magistrate Che, Anna was not remorseful of her action and she had squandered court’s time and resources despite her knowledge of guilt.
The magistrate expressed the dismay that the convict became a mother at a tender age but that the financial and economic health of her family at the time did not justify her action of giving away her one-month-old baby.
She described Anna’s claims as unbelievable and unjustifiable.
”I will not sentence Anna Sanneh to a custodial sentence. Instead, I shall sentence her to a mandatory sentence because of her plea for mitigation. I hereby sentence Anna Sanneh to a mandatory sentence of 2-year imprisonment with a compensation of D50,000 to the victim’s family in default to serve one-year imprisonment, ” the magistrate stated.
ASP Buteh Sawaneh represented the IGP in the trial.