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Police survivor explains alleged shooting of 2 PIU officers

Jun 6, 2024, 11:26 AM | Article By: Makutu Manneh

Police constable Ansey Jawo, the survivor of the Sukuta-Jabang Traffic Lights shooting that led to the death of two personnel of the Police Intervention Unit (PIU), has explained how the shooting incident occurred.

Ansey Jawo told Justice E. Jaiteh of the Banjul High Court that she was shot in her chest while trying to know the direction of the gun man.

Constable Jawo, who stood as the 10th prosecution witness (PW 10), testified that on 12 September 2023, she was on duty with her two colleagues -the late Sang J. Gomez and Pateh Jallow - purposely for the boys that do car racing. However, she said the place was very busy, which warranted them to be on standby until night.

PW 10 explained that while on duty, she and Sang heard a gunshot at the area Pateh was looking. At that  end, they discovered that he had been shot. That prompted both of them to rush towards Pateh, and the gun man also shot at Sang.

“I tried to find out the direction where the gun shots were coming from,” the witness explained. “However I got shot at before taking 2 to 3 steps and I lost consciousness and fell on the ground because I was shot in my chest. I later discovered myself at Ndemban Clinic.”

State Counsel, A.M Yusuf, asked PW10 whether she recognised the accused person (Ousainou Bojang), and she said she had seen only a picture of him on a phone.

Ansey Jawo (PW10) recounted that after she gained conscious, she saw herself under oxygen and the wound on her chest, which was stitched.

After that, she said, at the same night of the incident, she was referred to the hospital in Banjul where an x-ray was conducted twice before undergoing  surgery. Thereafter, she was in intensive care for a week and some days.

She added that she was later transferred to a private ward before being discharged and was only going for treatments at the hospitals in Banjul and Brikama.

During his cross examination, the first accused’s counsel, L.J Darboe, asked witness PW10 whether she had given any statement to the police and if she would recognise such a statement. The witness responded in the affirmative.

Subsequently, the statement was shown to her (Pw10) and she confirmed it before counsel L.J Darboe tendered it as evidence, which was not objected to by the state. The statement was then marked as Exhibit D10 by Justice Jaiteh.

Counsel Darboe further asked the witness whether some people visited her at the hospital during her admission.  She said some senior officers visited her but she couldn’t recall who they were because she was in severe pain at the time.

The case was adjourned until 10 June 2024.