Senior Magistrate Abdoulie Mbake of the Kanifing Magistrate Court, has described the defilement of underaged girls as a "cankerworm" which requires immediate intervention by all stakeholders to rid society of the menace.

Magistrate Mbake made this remark on Tuesday while presiding over a defilement case involving a 16-year-old girl, who was defiled by a 54-year old Guinean.
He pointed out that freedom has a limit.

"I presided over a similar case involving a grade six student whom the [defendant] took from her family for a whole day. Many of this underaged girls fall prey to adult males and such adults find it easier to mess around with these little girls. They do so by either using money or persuasion to get what they want," he said.

The magistrate had words of caution for would be perpetrators of the act.
"The Gambia is a peaceful country where people of all countries are welcome but not criminals," he concluded.