The lower court in Banjul is today expected to deliver judgment in the case involving Momodou Lamin Jarju alias Rongo, an artist, and Abdoulie Mbye alias Efry Mbye, a griot.
Rongo and Efry Mbye are being tried for giving false information, making false documents, uttering false documents and prohibition of conduct conducive to a breach of peace, at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court before Principal Magistrate Taiwo Ade Alagbe.
Today’s judgment would mark the final end of the case in which both sides called witnesses in support of their case.
The prosecution called several witnesses including alkalo Eric Tunde Janneh and some members of the council of elders of Banjulinding, as well as Lamin Gassama and Musa Ndure, both officers of the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA).
The accused persons also opened their defence and called witnesses including some of the first settlers in Banjulinding village.
Both sides tendered documents as exhibits in support of their case.The particulars of offence on count one stated that the accused persons, some time in 2010 in Banjul and diverse places, gave false information to the Ministry of Local Government and copied the same to the Secretary General, Office of the President, stating that alkalo Eric Tunde Janneh, was disuniting the people and grabbing land at Bunjulinding in the West Coast Region and that the President’s Office acknowledged Mr. Malang Badjie as the chairman of the council of elders of Banjulinding.
Count two stated that the accused persons, some time in 2010 in Banjul and diverse places, wrote a petition to the Secretary General Office of the President, stating that the villagers of Banjulinding were not in support of the Alkalo Eric Tunde Janneh, who was grabbing land and disuniting the people of Banjulinding.
Furthermore, count three stated that the two accused persons, some times in 2010 in Banjul and diverse places, knowingly and fraudulently presented a petition letter to the Secretary General Office of the President, in which they stated that the villagers of Banjulinding were not in support of the Alkalo Eric Tunde Janneh, who was grabbing land and disuniting the people of Banjulinding.
And count four stated that some time in 2010, in Banjul and diverse places, they conducted meetings with the people of Banjulinding in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace.
