Magistrate Pa Harry Jammeh of the Brikama Magistrates Court yesterday, showed his sterner side when he presided over cases concerning three youths who were arraigned before him on charges of stealing and destruction.

The three are Musa Keita, Dodou Bojang and Yaya Jallow. Musa Keita was accused of stealing three gallons of paint, twenty-one cartons of tiles and three pieces of plywood valued at eighteen thousand, three hundred and forty dalasis (D18,340) from one Amadou Barry of Bijilo, Kombo North.

 He pleaded guilty when the charge sheet was read to him but asserted that he had been working for the complainant for seven months and had received only a two-month payment from him, which compelled him to commit the theft. Magistrate Jammeh ordered for him to be remanded at the State Central Prison and to appear before him on January 29 for continuation of the proceedings. The next defendant, Dodou Bojang was accused of stealing three sheep in Brufut.

When the charge sheet was read, the accused insisted that he was sick and therefore he would not take his plea until he recovered from the sickness. Magistrate Jammeh then put it to him that if he (the accused) did not take his plea, he would not be granted bail by the court. He promptly denied any wrong doing.

Magistrate Jammeh also sent him to remand until 4 February. The third youth, Yaya Jallow, was arraigned for wilfully and unlawfully causing damage to the windscreen of a car belonging to one Modou Lamin Jawneh of Tabokoto. When the charge sheet was read to him, he also denied any wrongdoing. Magistrate Jammeh ordered for him also be remanded at the State Central Prison and to appear before him on January 28.

Police Prosecutor Sergeant Jammeh represented the IGP in all the cases.