'I was beaten by the police' -witness tells court

Alfusainey Jallow, who is currently serving his prison term at the State Central Prison Mile 2, has told the Special Criminal Court of Justice Moses Richards that he was seriously beaten by the police, and forced to thumbprint his statements.

Alfusainey Jallow, a convict was called by the state as the fifth prosecution witness in the ongoing murder trial involving Agibu Jallow, Babucarr Bah, alias Ebrima and Momodou Jang Bah.

Testifying before the court, Alfusainey Jallow said he recognised the first accused person, Agibu Jallow, and that he met the second accused, Babucarr Bah, only once.

According to him, on that fateful night he was sleeping when someone knocked on his door and informed him that his in-law, Agibu Jallow, has an accident with his car and that someone had died in the accident.

He added that the following morning, Agibu Jallow came to inform him about the accident, and promised to report the matter to the police.

Also testifying was Detective Inspector Lamin Cham of the Major Crime Unit, who told the court that on 8 June 2009, the accused, Agibu Jallow, was arrested and brought to their office in Banjul in connection with a murder case.

He further told the court that he was part of the team that investigated the matter, and that he obtained the voluntary and cautionary statements of the accused in the presence of an independent witness.

The cautionary and voluntary statements were later tendered in court as exhibits, without any objection from the defence counsel, Lawyer Assan Martin.

He testified that a medical doctor at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) conducted a postmortem on the corpse of the deceased, and a report issued to that effect.

The postmortem report was also tendered in court as exhibit without any objection from the defence counsel. 

It would be recalled that the first accused, Agibu Bah, was alleged to have murdered one Isatou Jallow by strangling her to death, on 4 June 2009, at Bullock village.

The second and third accused persons were alleged to have assisted Agibu Jallow, who was to their knowledge guilty of an offence, enabling him to escape punishment.