Magistrate Hilary Abeke of the Brikama Magistrates’ Court on Monday, August 6th, 2012 acquitted and discharged 85 people from the villages of Giboro and Gidda on 3 criminal count charges.

The 85 people were standing trial before the Brikama Magistrates’ Court since 2010. The judgement on Monday brought the case to an end when the magistrate said the court did not find all the accused persons liable to any offence as alleged by the prosecution.

In his judgement, Magistrate Abeke said the prosecution was unable to prove its case on conspiracy, disobedience to lawful order and threatening violence. Thus the court has no option but to discharge and acquit all the 85 people as required by law.

The magistrate said there was nobody who came to the court to say that the accused persons threatened him or her and nobody also came to say that he has made an order, which the accused persons disobeyed. He said if none of the above exists then it would be difficult to establish conspiracy.

Magistrate Abeke said the people of The Gambia are peace loving thus the court was convinced that the people were going to clear their land as the maintained throughout the trial and not to fight as alleged by the prosecution.

The 85 people were subsequently acquitted and discharged. But the magistrate also warned them, saying that they must maintain the peace in both their respective villages. The court further ordered that the cutlasses and the rakes that were seized from the villagers be returned to them.

It could be recalled that the 85 people were first arraigned before Magistrate Amadi, who has been elevated to the post of a High Court judge in 2010 and since then the prosecution had called 7 witnesses including Governor Lamin Sanneh of the West Coast Region. The people of Gidda and Giboro were said to be carrying cutlasses and machetes, wanting to fight over a peace of land that belongs to the government of The Gambia.