High court frees murder suspect but…

The high court in Banjul yesterday freed one Amadou Sey, a murder suspect, after the court said that enough evidence was not given to secure his conviction.

However, he was admitted to a bail bound of half a million (D500, 000), after the state prosecutor applied to the court to remand him in custody pending an appeal.

He was accused of causing the death of one Buba Trawally on 24th January 2011, at Brikama Dirman Kolong by stabbing him with a broken bottle on the head, knowing that death would be the probable consequences of such act.

The state prosecutor handling the case applied for the acquitted person to be remanded in custody pending the appeal against the court’s decision.

The defence counsel from the National Agency for Legal Aid, who represented the accused person, consequently raised an objection, saying that the court had acquitted and discharged the accused person based on the evidence heard, adducing that the accused person has been in custody since his arrest and detention.

N. Gbugi, defence counsel, then formally applied for bail for the accused person.

The court subsequently granted bail in the sum of half a million Dalasis with two Gambian sureties with landed property and resident in the Greater Banjul Area.

The court also ordered the prosecution to file a formal notice of appeal as soon as possible.

In delivering the Judgment, Justice Nkea said the prosecution had woefully failed to establish the element of truth in the case, before holding that the accused person was not culpable for the offence of murder.

The judge gave a summary of the case of both the prosecution and defence before analyzing them according to law.

He said the accused person acted in self defense when the deceased attempted to stab him, adding that the postmortem report issued by the hospital was unchallenged by the prosecution, which gave details of how the deceased died.