The late hours of May 17th and the early hours of May 18th were awash with social media posting about the death of one Staff Sergent Barrie, who was alleged to have been shot dead at the President Lodge by his colleague because the former was grumbling about the non-supply of rice to them for over three months.
Following that social media rumours and allegations, the Office of the Directorate of Defense and Public Relations and Information, Ministry of Defence (MOD) on May 31st issued a press release,stating that the said statement was completely false and the story misleading. The Public Relations Unit of the defence ministry also made it clear that Sergeant Barrie was stabbed by a certain teenager.
Following that development from MOD, Concord Times yesterday conducted thorough investigations to verify the content of the release from MOD so as to ascertain the actual cause of death of the said military personnel.
Concord Times conducted the investigations because the explanation about the cause of death by the defence ministry was still refuted by the public on social media.
At the Akon Police Station where the matter was reported, according to the release from MOD, it was confirmed that Staff Sergeant Barrie was never shot dead by his colleague military personnel, but that he was stabbed to death by one 19-year-old Nathaniel Sahid Watffa, a Sierra Leonean with a Libanese lineage .
Local Unit Commander (LUC) of the Ekon Police Station, Alimamy Sesay, narrated that on 17 May, 2022, father of the suspect residing at No. 49 Davies Drive, Hill Station, made a distress call to Staff Sergeant Barrie and Sergeant Tucker (close friend of his), requesting for assistance to contain the unruly behaviour of his son,who,according to his father, was battling with mental health condition, albeit that was not confirmed by a qualified mental health doctor.
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He said the two soldiers arrived at the premises unarmed and that whilst both of them were attentively listening to the father, the suspect unexpectedly appeared with a knife-like object and stabbed both Sergeant Tucker and Staff Sergeant Barrie.
According to the LUC, Staff Sergeant Barrie died moments later whilst Sergeant Tucker was still responding to treatment at the 34 Military Hospital.
He said after stabbing the two soldiers, suspect Nathaniel escaped and went on to stab Abdul Sesay who resides at Brookfields in Freetown.
He said after stabbing Abdul, Nathaniel was mercilessly beaten by mobs who took him to the New England Ville Police Station where he was referred to the Connaught Hospital for treatment.
The team of investigators from Concord Times further visited Connaught Hospital, where the suspect, who suffered severe injuries on his back and waist part, was responding to treatment in Ward 5 under the strict watch of a police officer.
