Lawyer
Badou Conteh has filed a written address on a no-case submission before acting
Principal Magistrate Sainabou Wadda Ceesay of the Kanifing Magistrstes' Court
in defence of Marc Maurice Alfred Van Maldegem, Operations Manager at Kombo
Beach Hotel.
Lawyer Conteh stated that the accused is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy ie to defeat the course of justice and prevent the execution of a legal process. He indicated that the prosecution called five witnesses in support of their case, and tendered exhibits P1 to P9.
He went
further to state that a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people
to carry out an unlawful act and that the object of conspiracy must be
unlawful. Lawyer Conteh adduced that the prosecution has failed to lead any
evidence of conspiracy and that it is legally impossible for the accused to
conspire with himself. Therefore, he argued, such an element has not been
substantiated in any material terms. Further indicating that the communication
with Charles Northfield did not in any case relate to any unlawful purpose the
defence counsel stated that this did not suggest or imply any agreement between
the two. He added that the communication between his client and
He submitted that there are no such people and
that there is no iota of evidence indicating, much less proving, a conspiracy
between the accused and others. "The mere instruction by Charles Northfield for
the accused to remove his items from his room and distribute the remaining ones
to the hotel staff does not amount to unlawful communication and could never
defeat the course of justice as alleged," Lawyer Conteh submitted.
"It was also in evidence that neither the
hotel staff nor the management were forbidden from communicating with Charles
Northfield,"he said arguingthat it is not an offence for an Operations
Manager of a hotel to enter the room of a guest who had left on the guest's
instruction and remove items belonging to the guest.
"From the evidence, it was crystal clear that the accused did not know that Charles Northfield had absconded from trial and that nobody in the hotel knew that Charles Northfield had absconded from trial,"defence counsel Conteh noted citing some authorities to support his argument.
Lawyer Conteh finally stated that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused and thus urged the court to uphold the no-case submission and discharge and acquit the accused.