(Monday 21 October 2019 Issue)
A
source familiar with the matter told The Point that Francis Mendy assaulted Mrs
Jammeh, 44, a resident of Kanifing while she was returning to the United
States, where she has been living for the past 20 years.
Mrs
Jammeh said she arrived at the airport at around 3pm, when checking had not
even started and found many people in the queue. “I meet one Mr. Secka at the
office and told him to try to be fast so that he could attend to me before it
is time for leaving,” she said.
She
said Mr. Secka told her not to harass him and she told him that she had arrived
at the airport since 3pm but there were a lot of people on the queue. “I told
him that the reason why I was asking him to be fast is because I don’t want to
be late.”
Mr
Mendy told our reporter that protocol does not allow him to make a comment on
that matter when he was contacted and Mr Secka, who is said to have witnessed
the incident said Mr Mendy is the right person to comment on the matter and not
him.
“Well,
I think you should contact Francis who is the main culprit. Unfortunately, I
can’t give you his private number and I can’t comment further on the matter,”
Mr Secka told our reporter.
Mrs
Jammeh said while she was with Mr Secka, Francis Mendy come out from his office
and told asked her to sit down and she refused because it was almost time for
her to go. “I told him that I was not
going to sit-down and he pushed and slap me in my face until my nose bled. I
don’t think people should be behaving like this at our airport,” she said.
She
claimed that she was bleeding throughout and met Halifa Sallah, the leader of
the PDOIS outside and explained the matter to him. “I’m a diabetic patient, so
I decided to postpone my trip because I can’t go like that.”
Mrs
Jammeh said the incident was reported at the Airport Police Station where she
gave a statement. “I was escorted to Banjulinding Health Centre by the Police
for medical attention.”