The officer commanding at the Major Crime Unit of The Gambia Police Force, Chief Superintendent Malamin Ceesay, has told the Special Criminal Court, presided over by justice Moses Richards, that he assigned the murder case file involving the state against one Buba Yarboe to one police officer, Amadou Kujabi, who is currently on a peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan.

Buba Yarboe is alleged to have caused the death of his mother, Jainaba Jarju alias Nani, a popular circumciser, by hitting her with an iron bar on the head on March 29, 2009 at Busumbala Village, Kombo North District of Western Region. The Major Crime Unit boss told the court that the said Amadou Kujabi is currently on peacekeeping mission in Sudan and explained that after the voluntary statement was obtained, he handed the file to the crime management coordinator for onward transfer of the case file to the Attorney General’s Chambers for legal opinion. The said voluntary statement of the accused was tendered by the prosecution, led by the deputy director of public prosecution (DDPP) Mikailu Abdulahi, and it was admitted and marked in evidence as prosecution exhibit G.

In his testimony, Lance Corporal Bakary Jarju, a military officer attached to State House and a resident of Busumbala Village told the court that he knows both the accused person and the deceased. The witness said on the day of the alleged incident between 7 and 8 pm, he was informed by one of his brothers who rushed to his house and asked him to go to the scene of the incident to assist the deceased, who was alleged to have been knocked down by the accused.

The State Guard officer said upon his arrival, he met the deceased lying on the ground bleeding profusely on the head and that he met one Amie Jassey crying. The witness further said when he inquired the matter from Amie Jassey, she told him that the accused knocked his mother with an iron bar and ran away. The witness said he saw the iron bar lying near the deceased and he later called the Yundum Police Station and reported the incident to the Station officer.

Meanwhile after the testimony of Lance Corporal Bakary Jarju, the DDPP Mikailu Abdulahi informed the court that the prosecution was closing its case. The matter is adjourned to February 16, 2010 for the accused to open his defence.