Woman whose child died in police custody has been compensated with 17million old Leone

Kadiatu Koroma, mother of seventeen month old Hannah Kanu, has received seventeen million old Leones from the Sierra Leone police as compensation for the death of her child whilst in police custody, in December, 2021.

Kadiatu Koroma had been arrested on allegations of theft in Makeni but due to the age of her child, had declined to be separated with her child and had then been placed into a cell along with her child, at the Panlap Police station. The item she had allegedly stole was a handbag containing items worth seven hundred and fifty thousand Leones.

During the evening hours, the child who had been mildly sick got worse and though the mother had tried to plead with the police to assist her with her child, they had interpreted her cries as a way to be let out. By 9pm that night, the child had died.

The incident investigated by MENA police had determined that the police officers on duty had only been guilty of negligence and not murder.

The cause of death has also been reported to be malnutrition