During cross examination by defence counsel O. Susso before Justice Jaiteh of the Banjul High Court on Tuesday, Amie Sowe recalled details of issues she had with the accused prior to the alleged physical attack.
Amie Sowe said that the accused on several counts has warned her that if she did not let go of the land issue he would kill her.
“Yugo Sowe told me that if I did not let the land matter go, he would kill me and he is the one I saw. I can swear on the Quran anytime - that he is the one. I can forgive the accused but he is the one," Amie, on a wheelchair, said.
Amie, who is PW3, also said two days before the alleged attack she was informed by a friend called Jainaba that the accused said he was going to burn the house she was living with the children on a plot of land in the bush.
When Counsel O. Susso asked Amie whether her past experiences with the accused made her regard him as the prime suspect of the alleged assault, she responded that she saw the accused but also Yugo was “fond” of telling her that he would “kill” her in most arguments.
The defence counsel further asked if it was correct that she was not happy when the accused wanted to give the land she was occupying to his second wife (who was the witness’s co-wife).
The witness confirmed that she was not happy because where her co-wife lived had a fence, electricity and other facilities. However, she said, all that the accused wanted to do was to waste the money after selling the land.
The defence counsel further put it to the witness that it was because of jealousy that she (PW3) joined forces with her children to “intimidate” the accused.
In response to that, PW3 said she was never jealous since she was not the only wife, and the accused had a wife with whom he had got sons, and the third wife also has 5 sons for him. She (PW3 ) has also sons for the accused, just that all that the accused “does is to waste resources”.
She said further that she was bothered about how the accused was wasting or spending money, more so that the first wife had died and her children were under her care.
“All that the accused does is to sell lands,” the witness Amie said. “He sold 4 properties including my own land and another 4 in the bush where I lived.”
She also said the children of the accused “live as destitute because he does not support them”. However she, the witness, has been selling firewood and charcoal to support the family, she said, adding that even the house she has been living in “with the family is not proper”.
She added: “I regard the co-wife’s children as my own children; they all come to me, that was why when he said he was going to sell the property I refused and he said if I didn’t let go of the land he would kill me; that is why he tried to kill me.”
She further recounted that during her 23 years of marriage with the accused, she was divorced on 3 occasions and also kicked out of the compound she was living, “to return to Badibbu”.
However, she said, her neighbours addressed the issue and urged the accused to make a house available for her and the children. That was when the accused allotted them land in a bush, she said.
“Yugo would never allow my children to stay with him because he has extended the hatred he has for me to the children,” Amie told the court.
“I never reported the issue of domestic violence I underwent during the marriage because the accused cast a spell on me and he told me that if a dead person did not come from the dead to come and speak, then I will not be able to speak about the issues to anyone. And also if an egg that is placed at one place cannot move then I would not move from where he has placed me. Then I would say he cast spell on me, and this I can swear by the holy Quran.”
The case was adjourned till 8 July 2024.
