Justice
Simeon Ateh Abi of the Mansakonko High Court has ordered Momodou Lamin Jarju
alias Rongo, and his father, Lamin Jarju, to pay the sum of D200,000 as damages
for trespass to Momodou Lungs Jarju, the acting Alkalo of Banjulinding village
and the community of Banjulinding.
The
presiding judge made this declaration in a judgment he delivered recently (21
July 2016) in a civil suit filed by the
acting Alkalo against Rongo and his father.
The
judge declared the suit is in connection with the actual ownership of reserve
land situated in Banjulinding, in which Rongo claimed that the said suit land
belongs to his father, Lamin Jarju, whereas the acting Alkalo claimed that the
suit land is reserved land for the community of Banjulinding village.
The
judge said the parties filed their claims and counterclaims, and the pre-trial
conference commenced in which various applications were made and additional
documents and witness statements were filed.
He
held that from the analysis of the evidence before the court, the suit land was
the reserve land set aside by Landing Kotoring Janneh, first Alkalo of
Banjulinding, and thus belongs to the community of Banjulinding and not to
Rongo and his father.
Justice
Abi added that Rongo and his father presented false documents for the purpose
of obtaining a lease over the suit land.
The
judge further stated that the counterclaim of Rongo and his father in respect
of the same parcel of land, was not satisfactorily proved based on the
preponderance of evidence.
Justice
Simeon Ateh Abi also declared that the community of Banjulinding village are
collective owners of the pieces of land reserved for the community of Banjulinding.
He
declared that all the documents of title prerpared by the minister of Local
Government and Lands, or any lease in Rongo and his father’s name in respect of
the aforesaid land, is null and void and of no legal effect, being based on
false documents.
He
issued an injunction restraining Rongo and his father, their agents, servants
and all those claiming title through them from interfering with the suit land
by building on the land, from entering or remaining therein or alienating the
pieces of land.
Justice
Abi further ordered that the minister of Local Government and Lands cancel any
lease in the name of Rongo and his father relating to the suit land.
He
dismissed the counterclaim filed by Rongo and his father, and ordered that they
pay the sum of D200,000 as damages for trespass to the acting Alkalo of
Banjulinding and cost of D50,000.
It
would be recalled that Rongo was sentenced to serve one year imprisonment after
he was convicted by the Brikama Magistrates’ Court on 20 July 2015, for making
of false land ownership documents and uttering false land document.
