By Foday Jalloh
A disputed property matter is presently before the Freetown High Court presided over by a female Judge, Hon Justice Amy J. Wright.
The said matter is about a factory that an Indian and Lebanese are both claiming to be rightful owners of the disputed property.
During High Court proceeding this week, wife of the Lebanese national was seen testifying in an open court via video call from the United Kingdom, London during a cross examination by defence lawyer, Pa Momoh.
She revealed to the court that the Indian national presently occupying the factory as his property was a tenant years back when her husband was alive.
She continued her late husband rented the Indian national the property for One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (100,000 USD) for a period of two years.
As a housewife, the said factory was handed over to me as deed of gift by my later husband in the United Kingdom in the presence of my children and in-laws, Madam Ayuba told the court.
Responding to the several questions posed by the defence lawyer, Madam Ayuba pinpointed the fact that the deed of gift was an oral statement from her late husband in the presence of others as witnesses.
If some people are claiming the property now, it astonishing and I don’t have any knowledge about it.
She told the court that the allegation is a false claim hence cannot be unconnected to the reason she approached the court for redress.
Several witnesses had testified in this matter, including official of the Sierra Leone Immigration Department, who was questioned in an open court specifically Madam Ayoub presently in the United Kingdom.
Immigration official, Bayoh in his witness statement told the court the Immigration Department can’t tell when and how Madam Ayoub came in and left this country since 2006 when a port nut secured in 2012.
Record of travellers in an out of Sierra Leone using the Lungi International Airport, he emphasized that they checked the Balamuya and Gendemah international boarder, but they could not find any details of madam Nurelin Ayuba after a careful search. Lawyer Kweku Lisk is prosecuting the matter. Lawyer Pa-Momoh Fofanah defending the same matter and attempting to prove that the factory was bought legally by the Indian national. The matter continues before the high court of Freetown.
