The NDEA volunteer, Edrissa Jaiteh, who earlier gave his evidence-in-chief, was Wednesday cross-examined in the alleged murder case involving him and one Edrissa Jarju, an officer for the agency, at the Special Criminal Court in Banjul before Justice Emmanuel Nkea.
The two accused persons are standing trial for allegedly causing the death of one Alpha Omar Jobe, who at the time of the incident, was a detainee at the Manjai Kunda Police Station, after being suspected of selling cannabis, a charge they had since denied.
Jaiteh under cross-examination told the court that he did not know one Sal, but admitting making a statement at the Kairaba Police Station on an account of what happened on the day of the incident.
He added that a statement was recorded from him when the event was fresh in his memory, stating that when they met the deceased, he did not know who the deceased was but Sam Paul knew him.
The witness adduced that their mission was not to effect arrest on Sal; instead it was to effect arrest on the deceased, adding that the deceased was not arrested on the grounds that he was spotted coming from Sal’s house.
He pointed out that he was denying that he had stated in his statement that when he spotted the deceased, he knew the deceased was in possession of suspected cannabis.
Designated as defence witness one (DW1), Jaiteh added that he was standing when Jarju was conducting a search on the deceased, but the deceased was never beaten by anyone, and after the search, the suspected cannabis was recovered from the deceased.
The case continues.