A prosecution witness in the criminal trial of two narcotics officers, Eku Grant and Ebou Lowe, yesterday told the Special Criminal Court in Banjul that he saw the Cherno Alieu Suwareh (deceased) bleeding while the 1st accused was holding his rastas.
A student and a native of Bakau, the witness, Sulayman Bah, was giving evidence in the trial against the two officers who are accused of murdering Suwareh, a drug suspect.
He told the court that on 25th March 2011, he heard a noise through the window, and went out to find out what was going on.
“When I went out, I saw the deceased bleeding while the 1st accused was holding his rastas. The deceased was later taken away by the NDEA officers,” he said.
He told the court that he was later called by the police at the Police headquarters in
Bah, under cross-examination, said he was present while the 1st accused was holding the rastas of Suwareh.
However, counsel representing the 1st accused insisted that the witness was not present at the scene.
“You are not truthful, because the officers would not allow you inside while effecting an arrest on the deceased,” defence counsel SM Conateh told the witness, who in turn, said, “I was there.”
Next to mount the witness box for the prosecution was one Ousman Mballow, a barber by profession, who narrated how he shaved the hair of Suwareh while hospitalized in
He testified that he was called by someone to go to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in
“I later realized that the deceased sustained some wounds on the right side of his head,” Mballow added.
He also told the court that he was paid for his services, after completing shaving Suwareh.
State prosecutors have accused Eku Grant and Ebou Lowe of the unlawful death of Cherno Alieu Suwareh by hitting him on the head and knocking his head against the wall, knowing that death would be the probable consequence of such acts.
