Court orders UDP’s Ebrima Dibba to enter defence

The court, presided over by Magistrate Krubally, delivered the ruling on Tuesday. The presiding magistrate said the prosecution had presented three witnesses, all of whom testified in open court and were cross-examined thereafter. Both oral and documentary evidence were established, tendered, and admitted by the court, which inclined him to accordingly overrule the defence counsel.

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

Nonetheless, defence counsel, Bory S. Touray, in one of his arguments in the ‘no case submission,’ stated that no evidence was placed before the court from the cellular company confirming that the subscriber of that number was the accused person. He added that no evidence was presented to the court linking the identity of the voice in the audio to the accused.

However, Commissioner Sanneh responded that the submission made by the defence counsel was “baseless and misconstrued”. He argued that it 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.

The court ruled that since allegations were made against the accused and the prosecution had already led oral and documentary evidence to support their charge, though denied by the accused, the court found it fair, necessary, convenient and appropriate to allow and call on the accused to offer an explanation or enter his defence.

“I emphatically preface that it is the accused, Mr Ebrima Dibba, himself who is in the best position, and perhaps with witnesses, if any, to give explanations in his defence by telling the court that what had been alleged against him by the prosecution is a lie, unfounded, and untrue,” the presiding magistrate stated.

The defence counsel, Touray, however, informed the court that they would appeal against the ruling of the court. The prosecution also applied for an adjournment for the defence.

The case was adjourned until 3 February 2025.