One Onye Kaozuru, a doctor and dental surgeon at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Monday testified before Justice Ikepalla of the Brikama High Court, in the trial involving one Alpha Omar Jallow, who was accused of rape.
The particulars of offence stated that the accused, Alpha Omar Jallow, on 23 January 2013 at Old Yundum village, had carnal knowledge of an under-age girl of 11 years old.
Designated as the seventh prosecution witness (PW7), Onye Kaozuru told the court that he has been a doctor for 25 years, and could remember what happened on 23 January 2013.
He was at his office in Banjul when one girl was brought there for the purpose of age determination, adding that he conducted age determination and wrote the report on a paper, which he signed.
At that juncture, the state prosecutor, E.R. Dougan, asked the witness how he conducted the age determination and he said by using age examination of the teeth.
He identified the said document in court, which was tendered and admitted by the court without any objection from the defence.
Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, D.P. Candian, the witness told the court that he has been practising as a dental surgeon for 25 years.
He said the reason why the determination did not include the date of the birth of the complainant was because there was an imaging error.
He said when he was conducting the determination on the girl, he found that her milk teeth were almost grown from the meat, and her second teeth had just appeared.
The first molar of a human being appears when he or she is at 7 years, and the second molar appears when he or she is at 12 years.
At that juncture, the case was adjourned to 6 July 2015
