ASP Sainey Ndure, station officer of Amdalie Police Station in the Lower Nuimi District of the North Bank Region, yesterday testified at the Special Criminal Court in the concealment of treason and perjury case involving Abdoulie Njie and Alieu Lowe.
Officer Ndure told the court that on 30 May 2006, he obtained two cautionary statements from the accused person, Abdoulie Njie, but there was no independent witness present at the time of recording the statements.
He stated that the accused spoke in Wollof, and he recorded it in English, adding that he later translated the statements to the accused in Wollof, which the accused thumb-printed, and he endorsed it.
When asked whether he could recognize the said statements if shown to him, he responded that he could recognize his own hand writing and signature.
At that juncture, the Director of Public Prosecutions applied to tender the said two statements as exhibits.
However, the defence counsel, Borry S. Touray, opposed the tendering of the two statements.
He submitted that the witness had indicated that there was no independent witness, at the time of obtaining the statements from the accused person.
“The requirement for the independent witness is mandatory, and the statement obtained was not voluntary,” counsel submitted.
The case was then adjourned to 8 October 2012, for ruling.
