Death row inmate appeal case struck out

The Supreme Court of the Gambia yesterday struck out the appeal case involving one Batch Samba Faye, a native of Banjul, who was convicted and sentenced to death by the Banjul High Court for murder.

This followed a ruling delivered by a five-member panel of judges of the Supreme Court, chaired by the Gambian chief Justice, Justice Emmanuel Agim, during yesterday’s session of the court.

Delivering the ruling, one of the panel members, Justice H. Aaban, stated that a notice of appeal was filed on 11 November 2011 at the Gambia Court of Appeal, which eventually struck out the case, when the issue of incomplete record of proceedings emerged.

She said based on those grounds the appeal was hereby struck out, and the case was sent for remedy to the Gambia Court of appeal.

The Supreme Court then ordered him go back to the Court of Appeal to hear his appeal again and determined his appeal on the merits of the incomplete record of proceedings.

It would be recalled that the appellant, Batch Faye, was sentenced to death by the Banjul High Court for the murder of one Malick John.

During the course of the trial, the prosecution called nine witnesses and tendered the cautionary and voluntary statements of the appellant, the postmortem report on the deceased, Malick John, photographs, the deceased person’s shirt and trousers and the broken knife as exhibits obtained during the trial at the high court.