One Shura Ahmed Alim, a Kenyan national, was recently convicted and sentenced by Principal Magistrate Hilary Abeke of the Brikama Magistrates’ Court to a fine of D3,000 in default to serve 6 months in prison for impersonation.
According to the facts as narrated by the police prosecutor, Sgt S.H Secka, it happened on 18 November 2015 at Banjul International Airport.
The accused person was about to travel to Stockholm, and upon arrival at the profiling desk of SN Brussels Airline for checking, it was detected that the passport No GL822924 and the Air ticket No 0822164452531 all bored the name of one Mrs Istar Ahamed.
She was arrested and handed over to the task force department at the airport and, during the interrogation, she confessed to the police that she was not the rightful owner of the said passport.
She was later cautioned and charged with the offence committed.
Counsel Lamin J. Darboe, as a friend of the court, begged the court to temper justice with mercy, adding that the accused person was a truthful person who did not waste the court’s time.
He said the prosecutor also told the court she was a first-time offender.
The accused person was then fined D3,000 in default to serve 6 months in prison, and the court also ordered that the said German passport be returned to the owner, who must sign an affidavit before the court and the air ticket should be destroyed by the court.
