Access to Justice for 500 Women in Sierra Leone

In December 2017, Kadija*, a mother of three from Kenema, borrowed Le 1,200,000 (approximately US$ 153) from her friend, Hawa*, to start a business. According to Kadija, they did not agree a timeframe for paying back the loan. However, with the help of her husband, Kadija saved Le 400,000 (approximately US$50) to begin the payment process. Kadija passed this money to her uncle, Mohamed*, for safekeeping. In May, Kadija was arrested. Unknown to her, Hawa expected to be repaid by within five months. Hawa had contacted the police, who arrested Kadija on suspicion of ‘judgment debt’ and, given the amount of money involved, Kadija was remanded to prison without an opportunity to contact her family or make arrangements for her young children.

AdvocAid’s Programmes Officer met Kadija the day she was put on remand at the Female Correctional Centre in Kenema. During an interview, Kadija said she was worried that two of her children, aged 3 and 7, had been left at home without a caregiver. Because Kadija’s husband was away, AdvocAid contacted Kadija’s uncle who agreed to look after the children in her absence. AdvocAid also supplied Kadija with extra food for her 8-month old baby, detained with her in the Correctional Centre.

AdvocAid’s Paralegal also spoke with Kadija. She explained Kadija’s legal rights to her and described the legal process. AdvocAid’s paralegal and Kadija agreed that they would ask the Magistrate to allow the case to be mediated out of court. In court, our Paralegal informed the Magistrate that Kadija was concerned for the welfare of her young children, explained that Kadija had already saved Le 400,000 to return to Hawa, and asked that the matter be settled out of court. The Magistrate agreed to the mediation and Hawa was released from the Correctional Centre that day.

AdvocAid’s Paralegal contacted Hawa and convinced her to resolve the dispute with Kadija without the police. At the mediation, Kadija and Hawa agreed that the loan would be repaid by the end of May and Kadija paid Hawa Le 500,000 (approximately US$64) as a first instalment.

Cases of unpaid debt, like Kadija’s, are all too common. At heart, these are commercial disputes which should be settled through the civil legal system. Instead, the police are called, women find themselves in detention and they lose the ability to repay their debt. Debt-related offences contribute to congestion in the courts and overcrowding in Correctional Centres. Without AdvocAid’s intervention and mediation, Kadija could have spent months in the Correctional Centre awaiting trial, unaware of her children’s wellbeing and unable to care properly for her baby. AdvocAid continues to advocate for the decriminalisation of petty offences, so that women like Kadija do not face months or years in pre-trial detention.

One cause of extended pre-trial detention is the wait for an indictment. Once a Magistrate has ruled that a case is serious enough to be referred to the High Court, a prosecutor must prepare and issue an indictment before a case can be heard. Yet this process can take months or even years. The March 2018 general election in Sierra Leone seems to have contributed to a backlog in the preparation of indictments. There are presently 18 women waiting for an indictment for their case to progress while in detention. In one case, the accused woman was admitted to the Correctional Centre over two years’ ago and has been waiting for her indictment since May 2016. Excessive delays are an infringement of women’s right to liberty and the presumption of innocence.

AdvocAid has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) twice this year to enquire about the status of these women and to request that the situation receives immediate attention. We are seeking a meeting with the DPP to press the urgency of this matter and hope that indictments can be expedited now that the election period is over.

It is with your help that AdvocAid is able to support and promote women’s legal rights in Sierra Leone. We have provided assistance to 146 women at the police station whilst also representating 71 women in court during the last 3 months. Without support from you, our donors, AdvocAid would not be able to continue its vital work and more women would be detained for debt-related offences, or languish in prison waiting for their cases to be heard. On behalf of the women and girls we work with, we thank you for your generosity and urge you to share the work of AdvocAid with your contacts.

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*Names have been changed to protect the individuals’ identities

In October 2017, Mariatu* travelled from her home town to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, for the first time to visit her friend. Anticipating she would stay only a couple of days, Mariatu had left her 3-year-old daughter with her parents in Bo town. Unbeknown to Mariatu, however, it would be over 3 months until she was reunited with her daughter. On the day she arrived in Freetown, Mariatu’s friend accused her of stealing money. Only a matter of hours later, she was arrested and charged with the crime of ‘larceny in a dwelling house’. Under the Larceny Act 1916, this crime carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

AdvocAid’s Legal Officer met Mariatu in Lumley police station the day she was arrested. Mariatu told our Legal Officer that she was accused of stealing 2,300,000 Leones (approximately US$300) from her friend’s house. Despite pleading not guilty to the charges, the police alleged that Mariatu confessed to stealing 80,000 Leones (approximately US$10). However, Mariatu denies having made this confession. Although the police officer wrote down her statement, Mariatu cannot read or write and so could not read what the statement said. Unaware of her legal rights, she had not known that the statement should have been read out to her for her to verify its accuracy.

Mariatu had no-one in Freetown who could help or advise her and had no way of contacting her friends and family at home to tell them of her arrest. Whilst she was entitled to bail, she had no-one who could act as a surety and Mariatu, therefore, remained in detention. 

In Sierra Leone, a trial for even a minor offence can take several months; the vast majority of cases are adjourned multiple times and this results in severe delays and congestion in the justice system. Mariatu’s case was adjourned 10 times. This meant that she spent over 3 months in detention. Having only planned to stay in Freetown for a few days, Mariatu was extremely worried about her unexplained absence from her family and her 3-year-old daughter, a hardship made all the worse with it being the Christmas period.

AdvocAid’s Legal Officer worked hard for Mariatu to be released and to see Mariatu’s case appear in court, liaising frequently with the investigating officer and court officials. When the case was finally heard in court, 12 weeks after Mariatu was arrested, the prosecution presented three witnesses to testify against Mariatu: the investigating officer, the complainant, and another tenant of the house. However, the prosecution failed to provide any evidence which connected Mariatu to the theft. As her defense counsel, AdvocAid’s Legal Officer asked the magistrate to dismiss the charges, as the prosecution had failed to make an adequate case to proceed with the trial. The magistrate agreed and acquitted Mariatu of all charges.

Following her release in January, AdvocAid ensured Mariatu was able to return to Bo safely and provided her with transportation funds so that she could purchase a bus ticket to Bo. We are thrilled to hear that Mariatu has been reunited with her 3-year-old daughter and is now able to continue working as a petty trader in Bo.

AdvocAid’s paralegals and duty counsels work tirelessly to make sure that women like Mariatu receive legal aid and representation, without which they could face years in detention for a crime they did not commit. As the only organisation in Sierra Leone providing holistic legal services to the country’s women and girls, it is of the utmost importance that AdvocAid can carry on its work on behalf of these disadvantaged women. This can only happen if we continue to receive your support. It is with your help that Mariatu was reunited with her child this January, and we look forward to bringing access to justice to many more women and girls in 2018. So that this can happen, we encourage you to donate to this project, and urge you to share this report with your contacts. 

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*Name has been changed to protect the individual’s identity

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