Principal Magistrate Emmanuel Nkea of the Banjul Magistrates' Court recently transferred the Half-die rape case involving one Momodou Korika Jallow, a Guinean national to the Special Criminal Court, following his own plea of guilt.
In his ruling, the presiding magistrate stated that even though the accused person pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against him without wasting the court's time, the offence committed was a serious one and that he should get a lawyer who should represent him.
He said if the accused person could not provide a lawyer for himself, its the duty of the state to provide him one.
The particulars of the alleged offence revealed that, on 16th October 2009, at Half-die in the city of