Supreme Court Clears Shears Moses of Corruption
Emmanuel Ekundayo Constant Shears-Moses Esq. has been cleared of all corruption convictions after the Supreme Court overturned both his High Court conviction and the subsequent refusal of the Appeals Court to overturn the High Court conviction.
Supreme Court Judges-Hon. Justice Allan B. Halloway (JSC); Hon. Justice Alusine S. Sesay (JSC); Hon. Justice Mangay F. Deen- Tarawally (JSC); Hon. Justice M. Sengu Koroma (JSC) and one Court of Appeal Judge, Hon. Justice Ivan A. Sesay on 11th April 2022, overturned the decision of three Appeal Court Judges-Hon. Justice E. Taylor-Kamara ; Hon. Justice Sulaiman A. Bah and Hon. Justice Fatmatta Bintu Alhadi, which had been delivered against Appeal filed by E.E. Shears-Moses Esq. on 10th August 2020.
Shears-Moses Esq. was brought before the Court by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to answer to two Counts of the Offence of Abuse of Office and Improper Use of Office, contrary to Section 42 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act of 2008.
On count one of the Indictment, it states that the Appellant being acting Head of Department of Law in the faculty of Social Sciences and Law at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, on a date between the 1st day of July 2015 and the 31st day of January, 2016, abused his office, to wit; improperly conferred an advantage on Alimatu Tity George, a student of Law, by improperly awarding her passing examination grades for the Module, “Dissertation.”
On count two, the particulars of offence state that the Appellant, being acting Head of Department of Law in the faculty of Social Sciences and Law at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, on a date between the 1st day of July 2015 and the 31st day of January, 2016, abused his office, to wit; improperly conferred an advantage on Jamilatu Alicia Sesay, a student of Law, by improperly inflating her examination grades for the Module, “Jurisprudence and Legal Theory.”
The Presiding Judge, Hon. Justice Allan B. Halloway (JSC), in agreement with the other Judges, stated for count one that, “clearly sufficient and reasonable information as to how allegedly, the Appellant improperly used his office was given, the same being, by improperly awarding her passing examination grades for the module, “Dissertation” when in fact and in truth Alimatu Tity George did not submit any Dissertation for grading.”
The empaneled Judges said that if in both Counts 1 and 2, the advantage conferred on Alimatu Tity George and Jamilatu Alicia Sesay for the Appellant’s improper use of office allegedly is the improper use of his office, then the particulars of offence have failed to give reasonable information as to the advantage which the Appellant conferred upon some other persons by the improper use of his office.
The Appellant was represented by Lawyer Charles Francis Margai, who made an application for cost to be awarded by the ACC to his client in the sum of one billion Leones, but majority of the empaneled Judges, apart from the Presiding Judge, refused his application.
The ACC was represented by Oladipo V. Robin-Mason Esq.
The empaneled Judges overturned the Appeal Court decision by stating that, “.the conviction is hereby set aside and replaced with the orders as follows…that Emmanuel Ekundayo Constant Shears-Moses, the Appellant herein, is hereby acquitted and discharged of the two counts…that all fines paid by the said Appellant to satisfy the sentence of him on his conviction of the offence aforesaid, at the High Court shall be refunded to him forthwith.”
By Alpha Paul Kamara
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