Amadou Jarra, a Malian accused of the murder of two women in Kerewan village, North Bank Region (NBR), yesterday, changed his plea of guilt to not guilty.

He is facing trial at the Special Criminal Court presided over by Justice Moses Richards at the High Court in Banjul. He is charged with the murder of two women, Kinty Fatty and Nyimasata Ceesay, both of whom were the wives of the accused person's host in Kerewan.  

The accused had hitherto pleaded guilty to the crime but the presiding judge had requested for him to obtain a legal representative on the ground that the offence that he is charged with is a capital one. When the case was called, the accused informed the court that he had had an audience with his counsel, Lawyer Jahateh, but he could not tell whether the lawyer would be in court.

Asked whether he would still maintain his plea of guilt, he responded: "No sir, I am not guilty".  At that juncture, the presiding judge asked whether he was not the one who, on the first day of his appearance in court had pleaded guilty to the crime; he insisted that he was not guilty of the crime.

Justice Richard then called the counsel for the accused person to show seriousness about the case, saying the accused has to know his fate. "He is just an accused person, who has been in custody for a long time now without any progress on the case.  Let the lawyer inform the court if she is not going to proceed with the case, before wasting the court's time.  The court will have to send a notice of hearing to the lawyer on the case," the judge emphasized before adjourning the matter to 9th September 2009.