Concord Times (Freetown)
Mohamed Vandi
20 August 2008
opinion
Kenema — Every institution or organisation has its own administrative principles which enhance its smooth operations. The Sierra Leone Police force is one of those reputable institutions with well-structured principles that would facilitate the enforcement of law and order in our various communities across the country.
The police force, which falls within the third arm of government, is mandated by statute to enforce the laws of the state through investigation and prosecution of crimes committed.
To prosecute reported cases at the law court, the police must have enough evidence (s). One of such evidences is a witness who should testify in favour of the complainant. Another justification is an exhibit of either stolen or damaged property. Since I am not a police officer to be one hundred percent correct in this presentation, I therefore agree that I can be corrected.
On several occasions, I have witnessed police officers explain to complainants at the police station that their cases would not be charged to court because of lack of sufficient evidence.
I can still recall the commanding voice of a police officer when he said: "Your matter cannot be taken to court because there is no witness to testify and no evidence of proof. If you want this matter to move from this stage, come with your witness or exhibit to substantiate your claim that you were indeed beaten." When my friend's younger sister was beaten by her boyfriend recently, we went to the police to report the school boy's brutal act. Being ignorant of the procedures of the police, my friend Keifa Kanneh thought the boy was going to be arrested sooner we reported the matter to the Family Support Unit.
"Officer, the foolish boy is presently in his house and we need to go there now and arrest him. Please officer, help me so that he won't escape. My sister is in severe pain," Keifa pleaded with the police officer.
The female police officer on duty said cases of such nature do not warrant an arrest as demanded by my friend because the police medical report must first be endorsed by a medical doctor backed by evidence from a witness.
"We are going to enter the report and then you will be given police medical report slip which you will take to any medical doctor at the hospital who will examine you, write the report of findings and then you come back with the slip to the police officer who is investigating the matter. The said police will obtain statement from you and thereafter you will be required to come with your witness and after they too must have made their statements, then we will go ahead to invite the suspect," the officer explained.
From this point, I took cognisant of the fact that police medical report is a major criterion for the prosecution of some cases particularly an assault.
Without delay, we went to one of the medical doctors at the Kenema Government Hospital who charged us thirty five thousand Leones (Le35, 000) for the examination which we produced immediately with the medical paper.
The doctor asked: "What happened to you?" "I was beaten by one boy. He kicked me in the stomach and also hit me on my spinal cord," the patient replied. After her explanation, the doctor took his pen and wrote on the report paper. He then directed us to take the paper back to the police station without explaining his findings to us. I was confused and to clear my mind, I was forced to ask the doctor: "Yes sir, is this medical examination complete?" He replied me annoyingly, "What type of question is that? I have done what you wanted for your matter to be prosecuted at the police. All you need to do is to take the report to the police." The medical report was accepted by the police and they dealt with the matter accordingly. But what continues to strike me in my mind is the manner at which the so called professional medical doctor conducted his examination on the patient by asking few questions without even touching her.
"What type of examination is this or the doctor is just interested in collecting the money?" I asked myself.
While we were still at the police station, a friend of mine Bockarie Luama met me there and he explained how some of these doctors regard the endorsement of police medical report. Luama said it is unbelievable that these doctors write on medical papers any where you meet them.
"We once met one of the doctors at the bar to examine my friend who was assaulted by his elder brother and without delay, he endorsed the report. The doctor asked my friend what happened and after he had explained, the doctor quickly removed his pen from his chest pocket and wrote the report. I was also confused as to what the doctor wrote specifically since he did not use any device to examine the patient," he explained.
With such attitude by medical practitioners, many people could question their credibility in the discharge of their duties.
To gather more information about the activities of some of these doctors, I asked some police officers who revealed to me that the police medical report which is endorsed by doctors, is creating major problems for them in the course of their investigation into assault cases.
Head of Family Support Unit in Kenema, Esther Kamara disclosed that one major problem that is always affecting her division in prosecuting cases like domestic violence is the doctors' medical report.
"The issue of medical report has always been a problem. We cannot investigate assault cases without medical reports. But when we give some complainants medical report papers to be endorsed by medical doctors, they hardly come back to continue their matters mostly on the grounds that they do not have money to pay the doctors. So the investigation always ends there. We really want this problem to be solved by providing police doctors at every police headquarters," she said.
Kamara also disclosed that most complainants, who go to the government hospital for medical examinations, have complained of high charges being levied on them by the doctor. "This is really frustrating our operation. Sometimes we have to help them especially in severe cases," she emphasised.
Fatmata Sesay was one of the complainants I caught up with at the police station. She explained: "I reported my husband for beating me mercilessly. The police gave me a medical paper to be endorsed by a doctor. Unfortunately I did not meet up the charges of the doctor so I have to come back to inform the police about it since I have no money to pay the doctor," she explained.
District Medical Officer, Dr. Yankuba Bah did not deny the existence of the practise. When contacted, he admitted that they (doctors) collect Le30, 000 for endorsing a police medical report.
Bah said there is no way the report can be endorsed without the money being paid because they may be needed in the law court to defend the report.
"Every medical doctor collects the money so that it can be used on transportation fare when needed to defend the report in the court," he said.
From the above analysis, one could agree with me that the police medical report is becoming a set back in an investigation process and in the prosecution of major cases like assault and domestic violence.
Therefore urgent solution needs to be taken by the police force so as not to deny poor people the needed justice.
Esther Kamara suggested that there is a need to have a police doctor to enhance effectiveness and avoid delays in the prosecution of major cases. This is a serious issue authorities must not treat with levity.
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