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Alleged PIU shooter case: Witness says Barrow is related to GRA staff’s mother

Dec 5, 2023, 12:11 PM | Article By: Fatou Dem

The third prosecuting witness in the alleged PIU shooter case has testified that the mother of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) staff shared the same parents with the Gambia president.

Mama Jabbie, who was testifying yesterday before Justice E. Jaiteh of the Banjul High Court, said the mother of GRA staff Musa Camara, Maimuna Barrow also called Korka,  shared the same mother and father with President Adama Barrow.

According to Mama Jabbie, when she got hold of the first accused, Ousainou Bojang, in the alleged PIU shooter case, she first contacted Musa Camara, a GRA staff, who shared the information with the Gambia Police.

When Mama Jabbie was asked about the relationship between Maimuna Barrow and the President, the Director of Public Prosecution objected to the question, saying that the witness’s answer would likely be an opinion or hearsay.

“She would say whether she was told or something else, and hearsay cannot be admitted as evidence,” the DPP added.

Lawyer L. Darboe, counsel for the first accused Ousainou Bojang, said the DPP’s objection was a “confounded” one. However, the court overruled the objection of the DPP and said the question was relevant.

Counsel L. Darboe reminded the witness that on 20 November 2023 she was asked whether she knew Musa Camara’s mother and she said no. However, in her testimony yesterday, she said she still stood by that statement. During her testimony yesterday Mama Jabbie said she knew Musa Camara’s mother, an answer which counsel Darboe said was reflected by the court record.

According to her phone records, on 30 September 2023, Mama Jabbie was physically present in Makamang Kunda, the president’s village, but she disclosed to the court that she could not remember.

Accordingly, her Africell phone records indicated that she was physically present at Makamang Kunda on 1st and 12th October 2023 but she said she could not remember when that happened because it was not her.

Counsel Darboe said the witness had fabricated her story and framed an innocent man “just to collect one million dalasis as promised by the president for information about a killer or killers of the police officers”.

She responded that she did not fabricate any story and she was not in any forum and wasn't aware that a million dalasi was at stake and that the killing was done in her presence. 

A.M. Yusuf objected to counsel Darboe’s question, saying it was “intended to insult” the witness and relied on section 207 of the Evidence Act.

Counsel Darboe said the question was very relevant and went to the crux of the matter and personal motivation of the witness to volunteer information about a killer, adding that the question was very crucial to the case of the defence.

 Justice Jaiteh ruled that the evidence was to test the witness’s credibility, adding that the question was “proper” and therefore overruled the objection made by the DPP.

Concluding cross examining PW3, counsel Darboe said that other than the witness’s name, occupation, address at Sukuta, all her evidence in chief was “out of imagination”. “It was all fabricated,” he emphasised.

PW3, however, insisted that there was no fabrication in all she had said. “It is what happened, and I am under oath,” she affirmed.

Another witness to testify today in the alleged PIU shooter case.