Cham told the court that he lives in Sukuta and is a businessman who was at the Anti-Crime Unit on Friday, September 2023, because he was called there regarding his business with a white lady whom he sold a car to.
Cham further told the court that he knows Ebou Sowe, the police investigator and the first prosecuting witness in the mini-trial of the alleged PIU shooter case. Sowe wasalso the statement recorder of the first accused person, Ousainou Bojang, at the Anti-Crime Unit “on Friday, September 2023”.
He also said he met Ousainou Bojang the very day he met Ebou Sowe. During his narration, the independent witness said that when he got to the Anti-Crime complex that day, he was seated under a mango tree waiting for the guy who called him regarding the business he had with a white lady and a man was involved in the deal.
He said Ebou Sowe found him seated and he called and told him that he had a case and they wanted an independent witness.
He said he asked Mr Sowe how he could help and Sowe explained to him that he needed to take someone’s statement and for the fact that he did not know him and he did not know that person he could be their independent witness to take his statement.
Mr Cham further explained that as he walked into the office, a few meters from where he was seated, he was asked by the person who invited him inside to take his seat.
“When I sat within 4 to 5 minutes I saw they brought in someone,” he said.“They brought Ousainou Bojang in and I was sitting and we faced each other.”
He added that the person who brought him inside the office asked Ousainou whether he knew him and he Ousainou answered that he did not know him.
Cham the independent witness said Essa Sowe told Ousainouthat he had brought an independent witness none of them knew.
Alieu Cham further told the court that the person who wrote the statement of the accused was speaking with Ousainou in Wolof and sometimes Ousainou would respond in Mandinka, adding that the person and Ousainou were speaking both languages interchangeably.
Meanwhile, on 6 February 2024, it would be recalled that the station diary the court ordered to be produced in the mini-trial of the alleged PIU shooter case had been produced.
Both defence counsel L. Mboge and L. Darboe looked into the station diary, and Counsel L. Mboge applied to tender the diary from the Anti-Crime unit, which contains entries from 13 September 2023 to 23 September 2023.
He also applied for the photocopies of the said pages in the station diary to be substituted to the original.
