Magistrate Tabally of the Kanifing Magistrate's Court last Wednesday convicted and sentenced one Amadou Corr to a fine of D10,000 in default to serve six months in prison with hard labour.
Mr Corr pleaded guilty to a charge of being in possession of a stolen property from abroad.
The particulars of offence stated that the convict, on 11 October 2010 at Serrekunda in the Kanifing Municipal Council, was unlawfully found with a suspected American passport numbered 112841351, bearing the name of Ousman Jeng, a Senegalese national.
In narrating the facts of the case, CPL 335 Nying told the court that it happened on 11 October 2010 along Kairaba Avenue, when one CPL Manneh and his men were on guard at the US Embassy.
She revealed that the security guards were informed by someone that the convict was selling an America passport.
According to her, the men on guard caught the convicted man and the said passport was found with him.
CPL Nying further narrated that the man was arrested and taken to Kairaba Police Station where he was interrogated and he confessed that he got the said passport from Coloban Market, in Senegal.
She added that the convict refused to reveal from whom he got the passport.
Subsequently, he was cautioned and charged with the offence committed.
In his plea of mitigation, the convicted man told the court that he was a 32-year-old breadwinner of his family. He then craved the court's indulgence to temper justice with mercy on him.
Magistrate Tabally subsequently convicted and sentenced him accordingly.
He also ordered that the said passport to be returned to the US embassy.