Benedict Jammeh, former Inspector-General of Police and the third prosecution witness had continued giving his testimony in the false information charges preferred against Musa Suso at the Bundung Magistrates'Court presided over by Principal Magistrate Kayode.
While under cross examination from the defence, PW3 testified that he got access to the report of the panel set up by the police to investigate into the matter. He told the court that he could remember the names of the prisoners and prison officers who were involved in the transportation and butchering of the dead bull.
He went on to give the names as, Ebrima Keita, Mustapha Nying (a butcher), Lamin Darboe, Omar Sey, all prisoners, while Saidibou Jarju, Yankuba Fatty, Sunkary Jarju, are all prison officers.
According to Ben Jammeh, all of them "have confirmed in their statement that David Colley indeed brought a dead bull to the prisons and fed the prisoners with it."
He said he was a member of the panel that sat over the findings of the investigations on David Colley at the Ministry of Interior.
Benedict Jammeh added that from his own statement, he could remember that some items were mentioned that were discovered in the prisons, such as sim card, money, drugs, among others. He said as the then IGP, he accordingly instructed for the investigation of those items.
Further testifying, Mr. Jammeh said that in 2007 when David Colley was arrested he was brought to the Police Headquarters.
He said Ensa Badjie, the then Crime Management Coordinator who was appointed on Friday 4th May 2007, came to his office and told him that David Colley was coming from Mile 2 for 'confrontation', and that he had already spoken to Burama Dibba, who was the then Officer Commanding Prosecution Office to lead the investigation.
According to him, he then informed Ensa Badjie that they should include the allegation made by Musa Suso against David Colley.
Ben Jammeh further stated that before Ensa Badjie left to join the panel, he asked him to record the 'confrontation' of David Colley on an audio cassette. Mr. Jammeh informed the court that the reason why he wanted the confrontation to be recorded was that he did not want any accused person to go to court and bemoan that his statement was taken under torture.
"The recording was done", he told the court.
On whether he would not be surprised to learn that David Colley denied that, he has never appeared before the panel. In reply, former IGP said "I would not be surprised knowing the type of person David Colley is." He said he had a copy of the recorded cassette marked David Colley, which he later produced in court.
Defense counsel Jobarteh then applied to tender the cassette in court as a defence exhibit.
The prosecuting officer, Tajin Badjie raised an objection, saying the witness is a prosecution witness and as a result, the prosecution did not intend to use the cassette against the accused person, adding that he was seeing the cassette for the first time, and that the prosecution did not know the content of the said cassette.
He also added that the witness only told the court that the cassette contained a recorded interview with David Colley, which was not the issue before the court. He further submitted that the witness told the court that it was a copy, but did not tell the court where the original was.
He said the cassette did not come from a proper custody, pointing out that the witness was not the author of the cassette, as he (the witness) told the court that Ensa Badjie did the recording, while Burama Dibba did the questioning. He urged the court to reject the cassette.
In response to the prosecution's objection, defense counsel Lamin Jobarteh submitted that the objection raised by the prosecution lacks merit. He said "this is a prosecution witness and is a witness of the truth". He said the witness was the former IGP, who instructed Ensa Badjie to record the 'confrontation' of David Colley with the panel.
Defence Lawyer Jobarteh further submitted that as the then IGP, Ben had a cause to be briefed by the penal of investigators.
The court later overruled the prosecution's objection and admitted the cassette as an exhibit.
Continuing his testimony under cross-examination, Ben Jammeh told the court that he read the whole penal report and he came across the names of Ebou Khan and Ndey Conteh. He said what he read in the penal report was that Ebou Khan said he never visited Musa Suso, and the panel had never got access to the visitor book in order to confirm whether what Ebou Khan said was the truth. He said Musa Suso never gave him any false information whatsoever.
He further told the court that he read the statement of Ndey Conteh in the panel's report and he came across some significant revelation that was relevant. He said in Ndey Conteh's statement it is clearly stated that, she has paid D13, 000 to have the satellite disc installed at the Director General's office. He said the satellite disc is still fixed at the Prisons' Director General Office. He stated that Musa Suso never told him that David Colley had diverted the satellite disc, stating that what Musa Suso said was that the satellite disc was fixed at the Director General's office.
