Lawyer LK Mboge yesterday continued his defence testimony at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Taiwo.
Mboge is being tried on charges of making false documents without authority, false swearing and uttering false documents.
Continuing his defence, Mboge told the court that he asked Saikou Barrow to pay D300 for the signing of the document, but before signing he said he went to see the Chief justice, and explained things to him.
According to Mboge, the CJ told him that the document could not be signed under the leave of the High Court, because any judgment that was more than six years old cannot be signed under leave of the court.
He further adduced that when he explained that to Saikou Barrow, Saikou was reluctant and told him that the Attorney General and Justice Minister, Edward Antony Gomez, said this was a good judgment and it was forever.
"Barrow asked me to go to the Attorney General and tell him that the High Court Master had refused to sign the document. I refused, because I knew that amounted to knocking heads together," Mboge told the court in his defence.
"I further told him to pay the application fees of D200, for the filing of the motion. I then told him to come the next day for him to be present when I am preparing the affidavit, but he failed to come," Mboge continued.
Mboge further told the court that he told the fourth prosecution witness (PW4) to be present when he was preparing the motion, but PW4 told him that he has an orchard at Tujereng that was why he failed to come, and instructed him to go ahead because he was familiar with the facts of the case.
He added that PW4 gave him a copy of a judgment of his father and a copy of the law report against his father, adding that he went to the High Court and assigned his assistant to file the motion, but when the assistant looked at the motion she realised that the affidavit was not signed.
"I spoke to Saikou Barrow on the phone and asked him, ‘Where are you? Come and sign the affidavit on behalf of your father’, and he said he was in Tujereng village, let me signed it," he went on.
"I also told him to call his father to come, but he told me that his father is old and is in Jambangjelly village. He told me to sign it. I then told my assistant to file it as it is," he added.
Mboge argued that he was not present when the affidavit was thumbprinted, and he denied thumbprinting the said affidavit.
The case continues on 20 June 2011.
