George Gelaga King was born in Zaire to Sierra Leonean parents from the Creole ethnic group who were settled in the then Belgian Congo.
King was subsequently educated at local schools in Freetown and at the University of London.
[4] King was a Judge of the Special Court for Sierra Leone from December 2002 alongside other justices such as John Bankole Thompson.
[4][5] The Appeals Court Judges also selected Justice Emmanuel Ayoola of Nigeria as Vice-President at the same time that King was re-elected.
[5] In September 2013, King served as the presiding judge when the tribunal ruled that the Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor lost his appeal against a war-crimes conviction and instead confirmed his 50-year jail term for encouraging rebels in Sierra Leone to mutilate, rape and murder victims in its civil war.