Cameroon: Robbers Break Into Supreme Court And Ransack Offices

Suspected burglars earlier this month struck in the Supreme Court building in Yaounde. An authoritative source at the court told Cameroon Tribune yesterday, June 15, 2016 that the offices affected were those of Mr. Justice Foe Jean Claude Robert, Judge-Counsellor, Mr. Justice Bisseck Dagobert, President of the Judicial Chamber and the Administrative Chamber Registry.

The source said Justice Bisseck’s door was forced open after the chain on the metal door outside was cut, while the other two doors were tampered with without any visible signs. The common denominator in all the three offices was that the burglars targeted Law books and items like ink pads, reams of paper, bottles of mineral and drinks. Justice Foe, who was on administrative leave, resumed work on June 6, 2016, without any signs of anything having gone wrong in his absence.

He only discovered that the books and other items were missing when he needed them, our source explained. On the other hand, Mr. Justice Bisseck was out of town on mission when his office was burgled. In Justice Foe’s office, the thieves did not bother to collect a brand new TV set still to be used, thereby suggesting that their target was the expensive Law books. A source familiar with the prices of legal or Law books said some of them cost from 100,000 FCFA. Thus, stealing a good number could fetch the miscreants hundreds of thousands of FCFA, he explained.    

The affected offices, almost adjacent each other, are located on the second floor of the Supreme Court building towards the Supreme State Audit Office, CONSUPE end. Though the area has surveillance cameras, “they apparently don’t serve the purpose because they were placed in positions that don’t provide direct view of the entrances to the three offices,” he noted. Our source expressed the strong conviction that “the burglaries were carried out with inside collusion.”

According to him, the guards deployed at the two gates to the Supreme Court premises have not been doing their job, given the burglaries. This is especially as the guard posts located adjacent the entrance into the Circle of the Friends of Cameroun, CERAC compound and opposite CONSUPE, are far-off. Moreover, there are no guard upstairs at night.