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Notorious convict testifies

Dec 6, 2010, 1:40 PM | Article By: Yusuf Ceesay

Ndey Korka Ndong, who has been convicted for theft, testified on 30th November 2010 before Magistrate Lamin George of the Kanifing Magistrates' Court in another pending theft case.

In her testimony, Ndey Korka Ndong told the court that she knows her accomplice, one Aji Kumba Ndure, adding that she is her cousin.

She stated that her cousin came to her with a taxi driver, and a boy called Babou, on the day of the incident.

"She told me that her aunt gave her gold belonging to her mother, who passed away," the convict told the court.

Ndong added that her cousin told her to accompany her to the goldsmith to check the gold, as she wanted to sell the gold because someone wanted to assist her to travel.

Testifying further, she admitted that she introduced Aji Kumba Ndure to one Omar Safha, a goldsmith, where her cousin took out the box containing the gold, and told them that she forgot the secret code of the box.

Mrs. Ndong later told her in the taxi that she was able to open the box, the witness said.

"When we went back to the goldsmith, she took out the gold and silver and asked the goldsmith to separate them," she added.

According to her, when the goldsmith asked for the owner, her cousin told him that they belong to her deceased mother.

"My cousin gave me D90,000 to save it in my account, which I did," Mrs. Ndong told the court, adding that her cousin also gave D5,000 to the taxi driver.

She stated that when she went back to return the money, she was told that Aji kumba Ndure travelled to Dakar.

"I received a call to report to the police station," she said. The convict told the court that, at the station, she was shown a printout of an Africell number, and asked whether she recognised the said number, and that she replied in the affirmative.

She told the court that she led the police to arrest her cousin. "At the court, Aji Kumba pleaded guilty for stealing, and was convicted," the convict told the court.

She revealed that she accepted selling stolen property, but denied stealing them. She also denied that an independent witness was present when her statement was recorded.

The case was adjourned to 14 December 2010.