Defence opens in family assault case

Isatou Jah, charged together with Adama Dubois and Sam Dubois on 29 November 2010, has opened her defence before Magistrate Tabally of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court.

The trio are standing trial for allegedly assaulting one Binta Sanyang, a charged they have denied.

Testifying before the court, the first accused person, Isatou Jah, told the court she knew the complainant and that she shared the same parents with the 2nd and 3rd accused persons.

She revealed that on the day of the incident, she went to visit her sister, Bintou Jah, at Bakau Faro Kono to collect something from her.

“On arrival at the compound I found the complainant sweeping and using abusive words,” she told the court.

Mrs Jah further adduced that when her sister sent the 2nd accused, Adama Dubois, to go and fetch water from the tap, Adama greeted the complainant but she refused to answer.

She said the complainant told the 2nd accused to stop throwing rubbish on the ground and in reply the 2nd accused told her that she did not sweep the compound on that day.

The first accused also told the court that the complainant insulted the 2nd accused when she went to fetch water for the second time.

The 2nd accused, she added, told the complainant not to insult them, as she did not want to retaliate because the complainant was their aunt. She said that the complainant insulted again and subsequently slapped the 2nd accused.

“The 2nd accused also retaliated and slapped the complainant and they fought,” said the 1st accused, adding that she called on one lady to help her to separate them.

“Later the complainant took her wooden bench and hit the 2nd accused with it,” she stated.

She added that it was then the 3rd accused, Sam Dubois, came out of his house to enquire from her sister what was the matter, adding that the complainant also insulted the 3rd accused for asking what transpired between them.

She said she used a stick to separate them and locked the 3rd accused in the house.

She maintained that throughout the incident PW2, Fatou Sang, was inside her house.

She denied that she assaulted the complainant and said both the 2nd and 3rd accused did not assault the complainant.

The police came into their house and they were taken to the police station, she said.

She also told the court that Adama was unconscious after she was hit by the complainant and was escorted by the police to the Bakau Health Centre.

Under cross-examination by prosecuting officer Inspector Mballow, Mrs Jah told the court that her sister was not cooking under the veranda.

She admitted that she was kindly monitoring the second accused and the complainant at the tap, as it was very easy for her to see from where she was sitting.

She stated that the 2nd accused collapsed the very day of the incident, and denied assaulting the complainant.

“It was a problem between the two families, and I only witnessed what transpired,” she told the court.

“It was not my intention to frustrate the complainant out of the compound, as it was my first time to see her,” she said, denying it was the 2nd accused who first slapped the complainant.

She said that her purpose of visiting her sister was not to create problem between the 2nd and 3rd accused persons and the complainant.

She maintained that all what she said before the court was the truth.

At this juncture, the case was adjourned till14 December 2010.