Commissioner urges order for UDP’s Ebrima Dibba to enter defence 

In his response to the no-case submission of the defence counsel Bory S. Touray, Commissioner Sanneh said the accused, Ebrima Dibba, committed an offence that warranted him to enter a defence.

The prosecution relied on Section 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code that the accused had a case to answer because a prima facie case had already been established.

It would be recalled that Dibba was charged with seditious intention under section 51(1) (a), punishable by section 52(1) (b) & (c) of the Criminal Code Volume One, Laws of The Gambia 2009.

The IGP alleged that in May 2024, Dibba recorded and published a WhatsApp audio accusing the President of being "greedy, immature, rude, and foolish", aiming to incite contempt against the President or the Government.

After the call of three prosecution witnesses, the defence lawyer submitted that the evidence submitted by the prosecution had not linked the accused to the offence charged.

“The two witnesses presented by the prosecution especially PW1 (Assistant Superintendent Mberry Touray)  did not give any evidence linking the accused to the making and circulation of the purported audio,” lawyer Bory Touray stated. 

Defence lawyer BS Touray further argued on his ‘no case submission’ that no evidence was placed before the court from the cellular company confirming that the subscriber of that number was the accused person, adding that no evidence was given to the court on the identity of the voice in question to that audio.

However, commissioner Sanneh responded that the submission made by the defence counsel was “baseless and misconstrued” and did not comply with section 53(2) of the Criminal Code, and urged the court to disregard, dismiss and allow the accused to enter his defence. 

Commissioner Sanneh said they were relying on all the evidence of the three prosecution witnesses, especially the evidence of the second, PW2 Ousman Gibba, from the Special Investigation Unit of the police. 

Commissioner Sanneh said that without ambiguity, PW2 made it clear to the court that he had interface with the accused and the accused confessed that he made that audio. 

“We as the prosecution submit that the wording of the accused in the audio is an offence contrary to Section 52 of the criminal code,” Commissioner Sanneh pointed out.

According to the translation of the audio made by PW3, the commissioner stated, the accused said the president was “clueless, ignorant”, and knew nothing. 

“With these wordings, we submit that the accused has committed an offence which warrants him to enter a defence,” he argued. 

The case wasadjourned until 25 October 2024 for ruling.