Sabally, the United Democratic Party’s Campaign Manager, was sued by business tycoon Abubacarr Jawara seeking eight million dalasis for defamation and slander.
Also, Abubacarr Jawara, who is the CEO of GACH, wants the court to order the politician to render unreserved apology to him. Sabally denied making any defamatory remarks against the business tycoon. And one of his defence is that Jawara is a politically-exposed person. He denied every claim Jawara made against him.
Lawyer Abdoulie Fatty represented the defendant (Momodou Sabally) while Lawyer Ida Drammeh appeared for the plaintiff (Abubacar Jawara).
Three WhatsApp audios and their transcriptions were tendered in court by Jawara’s lawyer and were all admitted in the records as exhibits. Lawyer Fatty for Sabally said the audios are normal political talks and the court should not admit them into evidence. But his objections were overruled by the court.
Lawyer Fatty informed the court that the statement of defence indicated that Sabally is a social commentator, public speaker and motivational speaker.
Lawyer Drammeh also tendered three Facebook publications that were made by Sabally on 11 January 2021. This was not objected to by Counsel Fatty.
Drammeh also tendered Jawara’s mining licence and it was admitted as exhibit PF8 (a) while the licence for the imported guns was admitted as PF8 (b). The letters from the plaintiff's business partner were also admitted as F9 (a) and (b). Still, Barrister Drammeh tendered another Facebook posting by Sabally in which he called for the prosecution of Jawara with economic crimes and another posting where he (Sabally) stated that he was not going to apologize to Jawara. They were not objected to, and were admitted as exhibit PF10 (a) and (b).
"These are the documents the plaintiff seeks to rely on in this case," lawyer Ida Drammeh said.
Lawyer Abdoulie Fatty also tendered the appointment letter of Abubcarr Jawara to China as a Consular and a flash drive containing a video of Jawara. The video did not have a transcript but is accompanied by a certificate. The appointment letter was admitted as exhibit PF1 while the flash drive containing the video was admitted as PF2.
Abubacarr Jawara said he has 4 witnesses while Sabally said he has only one witness (himself). The case was adjourned till 17 February 2023, from 9 am to 1 pm, for hearing.
