The trial of Abubacarr Sallah who is standing trial at the Brikama Magistrates’ Court on charges of criminal trespass and assault could not proceed yesterday as the presiding Magistrate John Njie was said to be indisposed.

Mr Sallah was alleged to have entered into the complainants compound with intent to annoy her and also assaulted her by hitting her with a pestle on her face thereby causing her actual bodily harm.

In a separate development the trail of Bakary Fatty , Alimany Fatty, Musa Jabang and Musa Camara could not also proceed on Monday at the Brikama Magistrates’ Court as the prosecution officer was absent from court.

The four accused persons were alleged to have conspired together at the BanjulInternationalAirport by helping one Bakary Fatty to travel with a passport that does not belong to him.

The cases were adjourned to 26th and 29th August 2008.

One Babucarr Sallah of Farato was on Monday arraigned before Magistrate John Nije of the Brikama Magistrates’ Court on counts of criminal tresspass and assault. He denied the charges.

The complainer, Fatou Kambai, in her testimony told the court that the accused went to her compound asking for the landlord and was informed that the landlord was out of the compound and thereafter the accused left the compound.

She further told the court that the accused later returned and asked her why she refused to answer when he called her and thereafter the accused hit her with a pestle on her face.

The Brikama Magistrates’ Court on Monday acquitted and discharged one Muhammed Waggeh, a public health officer, who had been standing trial for the offence of common assault.

In his submission on a no-case-to-answer his defence counsel Kebba Sanyang told the court that his client should not have been charged in the first place.

According to him, it was the complainant who should have been charged with assault instead, as she was the person who misbehaved at the health centre.

He said his client as a public health officer had the power while on duty to caution anybody who misbehaved at the health centre.

In response, the police prosecutor disagreed with the defence counsel’s submission, arguing that the accused had a case to answer.

In delivering the ruling, the presiding magistrate John Njie stated that he had carefully considered the totality of the evidence and found that the prosecution had woefully failed to prove their case beyond all reasonable doubt. He therefore acquitted and discharged the accused.

Stanlus Marowa's brief stint as a henchman recruited by local ZANU-PF party leaders is coming back to haunt him since they abandoned him, and he is now facing the wrath of his community and charges of assault and theft.

Marowa, 24, unemployed and living the dormitory town of Chitungwiza, 30km south of the capital, Harare, told IRIN that he had engaged in acts of torture against supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after the 29 March poll, in which the ruling ZANU-PF party lost its majority in parliament for the first time since independence in 1980 and its leader, Robert Mugabe, came off second best in the presidential poll.

Marowa told IRIN he was "conscripted" by ZANU-PF into a youth militia, and was tasked with identifying and torturing MDC supporters in St Mary's, a suburb of Chitungwiza.

"My victims reported me to the police for beating them up and stealing from their houses and, at that time, I thought that the police, as in the past, would take no action."
 
But after Mugabe, as the sole candidate, won the second-round presidential runoff on 29 June, Marowa found things had changed.

"When I asked [ZANU-PF] party leaders in my area to intervene, they told me that they could not protect me since the elections were over and Mugabe had won," said Marowa, who has appeared in court on charges of housebreaking and assault. "I am now alone, I have been cheated and I don't think the feeling of guilt that I have now will ever go away."
The election has been widely condemned, and even the few African observer missions permitted to monitor the poll have declared it not free and fair.

Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African state for 28 years, denied any complicity in election violence. "I instructed them to go and campaign for me, not to beat up people," he said, and has also blamed the MDC for the violence.
 
Marowa said he and scores of other youth militia had operated from a base that had since been dismantled; his colleagues, fearing arrest, had fled to rural areas - where political violence is still being reported - to escape prosecution.

"I am now being treated like a leper or murderer [by the community] simply because I was too stupid to know that I was fighting other people's war on the basis of empty promises."

He said local ZANU-PF leaders had promised him rewards for his handiwork, such as scholarships to study overseas - even though he failed his exams - or a job in government, if Mugabe was re-elected.

While Marowa has turned to the church for redemption, the victims of political violence said their experiences were too raw to contemplate forgiveness.

"How does it feel to lose a relative, to be maimed or raped and to lose your property, simply for exercising your vote? Why would these militias be so ready to participate in this war of attrition, particularly when they are neighbours?" said Grange Mairos, 68, who lives in St Mary's suburb.

No forgiveness from victims

"We told them chickens would come back home to roost, and that is what is happening, exactly." He said he helped his daughter open a case of rape against another member of the militia, "but when reporting, you need to be careful and stay away from politics as much as possible, otherwise you can frighten the police from recording your case," he told IRIN.

Mairos has not managed to visit his home in rural Masvingo Province, in southeastern Zimbabwe, since the beginning of May, for fear of attack, but he has been told by relatives that the militia killed his three goats and took his grain to use as food at their bases, which were also used as torture camps.

"Once the dust has settled, those who stole my livestock and grain will have to compensate me or face jail; I know them," Mairos said.

David Chimhini, the director of the Harare-based Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust, said it would be difficult for victims to forgive their "enemies", but it was important that political parties "invest their efforts in a process of national healing and promote a culture of tolerance and forgiveness, if we are to pull out of this mess".

"You can't underestimate the urge for revenge among victims, now that they have a sense of boldness as the election fever subsides. But retaliation would be regrettable, given the sorry state that post-election violence has left our country in. Political parties and civil society should come together and build the capacity in communities for co-existence," Chimhini told IRIN.

He said it was "unfortunate that innocent people were turned into murderers by political leaders who just want to safeguard their personal interests", but also conceded that some of the perpetrators of violence were "settling personal scores with their enemies, yet others were naively overzealous".

IRIN 

The convicts were found guilty by the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court for the offence of assault causing actual bodily harm.

In his judgement, Principal Magistrate Buba Jawo stated that the court had carefully considered the evidence before it and found that the prosecution had proven their case beyond all reasonable doubt. He said that since the defendants were members of the same family as the complainant, they should have considered the bonds of their relationship before resorting to violence.

Magistrate Jawo further stated that as students, the two girls should have concentrated on reading their books rather than engage in such a regrettable act. He said that as the offence is a serious one the court would not entertain it.

Amadou Bah, a baker at Jambanjelly Village, Kombo South, was last Monday arraigned before the Brikama Magistrates’ Court, presided over by Magistrate Ayoub John Njie, on the charge of common assault, contrary to Section 227 of the Criminal Code of The Gambia.

According to the fact before the court, Amadou Bah unlawfully hit one Edrisa Barry with a spade, causing him external injuries.

Taking his plea, Amadou Bah admitted hitting the complainant, but he said he only used the handle of the spade to hit him and not the spade.

Police prosecutor 134 Sambou then applied under section 169 of the Law Amendment Act to amend the particulars of the offense from spade to the handle of spade. Magistrate John Njie granted the application.

Meanwhile, Amadou Bah was granted bail by the court at a sum of D1500 with a Gambian surety who must possess a valid Gambian identity card. The case was then adjourned to June 2, for continuation.

Three of the five sympathizers of the main opposition United Democratic Party, who were jointly charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, yesterday heaved a sigh of relief when they were informed by a Western Region-based lower court that they were free from the charges.

Doudou Cassa Jaata, Maimuna Jobarteh and Natoma Conteh were among the opposition supporters that were rounded up shortly after the results were announced in the 2006 bye-election in Kombo East constituency. Some of them were whisked away to a police station a few kilometres away, and subsequently charged with assault, causing actual bodily harm.

Meanwhile before acquitting and discharging the trio of the charges, magistrate John Njie of the Brikama Magistrates’ Court pointed out that the acquittal and discharge of the opposition supporters was based on absence or dearth of evidence before the court, to warrant a conviction.

In a separate development, the trial of Lamin R. Darboe jointly charged with the three acquitted UDP supporters, resumed yesterday at the Brikama Magistrates’ Court but could not continue as billed.

The case is expected to resume next Monday.

Hearing of testimonies in the trial of an alleged armed robber commenced at the Brikama Magistrates’ Court in Western Region last week.

Abubacarr Ceesay took the dock for ‘assault’ on one Cherno Jallow, at a time he (Ceesay) was “armed with a pistol”. The alleged assault took place in October of 2007 in the Kombo South village of Tanji in Western Region.

Meanwhile, Ceesay’s assault on Jallow is reported to have been precipitated by his intention to rob Jallow.