A prosecution witness, Susan Jatta, recently testified in the trial involving one Karanta
Darboe, accused of obtaining money by false pretense, before Magistrate Gomez
of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court.
Jatta told the court that she recognized the accused person, and that some time last year, she was going out with her mechanic friend, Ousman Cham, to look for a house when they met with the accused around Senegambia.
The accused asked the mechanic where he was going to, as he (the accused) was going to his (Cham’s) garage, she said, adding that the mechanic told him that there was a house she (the witness) was directed to at Bijilo.
The accused told him that before going to Bijilo, he got a house for rent, she said, adding that she told the mechanic for them to go and inspect the house, and the accused led them to the said house.
On arrival, they proceeded to the house, which is a double apartment each with two bedrooms and a sitting room with furniture, she told the court.
She told the accused that she could go for the rent, and that he should remove the furniture and fix the faults.
Jatta said she asked the accused whether there was anybody in the other apartment, and he answered in the affirmative, but that the guy would vacate in two weeks’ time.
She told the accused that she needed the whole compound for rent, and the accused told her that both apartments would cost D140,000.
The accused told her that she could move in in two weeks, and she told him that she would talk to her sister before moving into the house, she further told the court.
She was asked to make an advance payment, and she took the money, with her sister, one Haddy Sillah, the mechanic and his friend to meet the accused at the said compound.
On arrival, she said, her sister inspected the house and told her she could go for the house.
The accused then told her to pay D25,000 so that the place could be renovated in two weeks’ time, which she gave the accused and was issued with a receipt at a restaurant called Blue Parrot.
She then gave the accused the extra two weeks for the work to be completed.
According to her, after a long time, they did not hear from the accused, adding that two days before the last Tobaski, the accused called her and demanded for D10,000, which she gave him.
Since that day, she had never seen the accused and several demands were made, until one day when the accused answered her call.
She told him that she wanted her money back, and the accused promised to pay, but up to now she never recovered any money from the accused.
She informed her elder sister, Haddy Sillah, about the matter, who went and reported the matter to Bakoteh Police Station.
The case was adjourned to 9 June 2015.