During that time, Mr Kondoh was living in the eastern city of Kenema, which became a major battleground because of its rich diamond deposits. The alley next to his family home adjoined an abandoned mortuary, outside which scores of people murdered and mutilated by militiamen from the Revolutionary United Front were routinely dumped. Knowing there was no way the mortuary would reopen, he took it on himself to fence the piles off and stop them becoming a public health hazard.