Three women have been handed heavy prison sentences by the High Court of Sierra Leone after admitting to drug-related offences under the National Drugs Control Act of 2008. The ruling, delivered on 1 December 2025 by Justice Josephine F. Hinga, comes at a time when the country is tightening its response to drug abuse and trafficking.
Adama Kamara and Yeanoh Kargbo were each sentenced to thirty years in prison, while Sia Kamara received fifteen years. All three pleaded guilty to possessing large quantities of cannabis and kush during separate raids conducted earlier this year by officers of the Transnational Organized Crime Unit.
The first operation took place on 25 April 2025 at Mills Street in Freetown, where officers led by D/SP Andrew Rhonkoh arrested Adama Kamara with 800 grams of cannabis. At the same address, Yeanoh Kargbo was found with thirty grams of kush. A separate raid at Mabel Brown Street uncovered 1.8 kilograms of kush in the possession of Sia Kamara. She, too, admitted the offence.
During mitigation, defence lawyer C. Taylor-Young appealed for leniency, stressing that all three women are young mothers and the primary caregivers in their homes. He warned that sending them to prison for such long periods may protect society but could expose their children to hardship.
The state held a different view. Prosecutor J. K. Jan-Abu reminded the court that the drugs involved have damaged the lives of many young people, and that the convicts’ guilty pleas did not erase the seriousness of the offences.
Justice Hinga acknowledged the women’s roles as caregivers but maintained that the scale and impact of the drug problem demand a firm stance. She described the offence as one of the major threats facing the country’s youth and said sentencing must serve as a deterrent to others.
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At the close of her ruling, she ordered all seized substances to be destroyed in the presence of senior justice officials and required a destruction certificate to be submitted to the court.
The case stirred talk about how the nation deals with addiction, while showing the messy truth behind people trapped in drug charges. Though the ruling shows courts taking a harder line, it reveals the toll on loved ones when parents get locked up for years.
