2014-12-24 08:29
Freetown - A village chief has become the first person in Sierra
Leone to be jailed under laws aimed at preventing the spread of the
Ebola virus, court officials and lawyers said on Tuesday.
Amadu
Kargbo was sentenced to six months in jail by a court in the
south-western city of Moyamba for secretly burying the dead and failing
to report a sick patient, court official Foday Fofanah told AFP.
He was also fined $235 and ordered to spend 21 days in quarantine before going to jail.
Lawyers in the capital Freetown said it was the first known conviction under the country's Ebola laws.
Fofanah said the chief had pleaded guilty to secretly burying his daughter, who had died of Ebola.
He added that Kargbo's wife had also died
after attending the funeral of another family member, although it was
not clear if any of the charges related to his wife's death and burial.
Ebola
has killed more than 7 500 people, almost all of them in west Africa
and Sierra Leone recently overtook Liberia as the country with the
highest number of Ebola infections.
Authorities have banned public
gatherings as well as New Year celebrations as part of sweeping efforts
to stem the spread of the virus.
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