Morris Kallon, a Sierra Leonean national was, on Tuesday, arraigned before the Bundung Magistrates Court presided over by Senior Magistrate Kumba Sallah-Camara on charges of raping an 8-year old girl.

According to the particulars of the charge sheet, Morris Kallon was alleged to have had carnal knowledge of an 8-year old girl from Bakoteh in the Kanifing Municipality.

When the charge sheet was read to Mr Kallon before Senior Magistrate Sillah-Camara,  he pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him.

Magistrate Sillah-Camara then remanded Kallon to the State Central Prison, Mile Two, and  adjourned the case to August 20th. Inspector Saine stood in for the IGP.

Jainaba Janneh, the three year-old daughter of Saifu Janneh of Farato Village, is in urgent need of overseas medical treatment.

According to the medical report dated the 4th of August 2008, Jainaba has been in the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital and is suffering from right retinoblastoma. “I will be very grateful if you will take this patient under your care for further evaluation, management and treatment because it is not possible in The Gambia,” states the report.

Speaking to The Point, the father of the child appealed to the general public to come to the child’s aid. He said that he is poor and cannot pay his daughters medical bills even though she is in a critical condition.

Those wishing to support little Jainaba can contact her father Saifu on 9935687/7785964/7000048 or 7331442.

A man believed to be a Guinean national was last Saturday arrested in Latirkunda German, suspected of raping a 17-year old girl (name withheld).

Abdourahman Jallow is alleged to have persuaded the under-aged girl to accompany him to his friend’s house in Latirkunda German. On reaching there, he reportedly sent the friend to buy him something and, when thus left alone with the victim, he forced himself on her. 

The undesirable phenomenon of rape has in recent times become a menace, with uncomfortably too many incidents being reported time and again. 

Recently, in an interview with GRTS, President Jammeh vowed to set example on murderers and rapists. “We will not tolerate crime of whatever nature, more so violent crimes,” he stressed.

Awa Badjie, a 14 year old girl residing in Tallinding Kunjang, is currently seeking assistance in obtaining overseas treatment from anyone willing to give it. 

According to the medical report issued by the Royal Victorian Teaching Hospital the girl was presented to the pediatric outpatient apartment in August 2006 after she experienced difficulty breathing, swelling of the legs, coughing, a sore throat and heart palpitations.  The subsequent medical report reads as follows;

 “On evaluation she (Awa) was noted to have a laud pansystic murmur of grade 4/6 maxiaml apically radiates all over the pericardium and back with faehyendia, [and a] tender hepatomegaly.  She was faehypeve and had five basal crepitation.

The transthoracic echocardiography did show an enlargement of the left aurical with widening of the mitral leaflet and atoning of the anterior mitral leaflet.  There was no septal defect the aorta was normal in position.  The chest x-ray showed interstitial opacities bilaterally on the above clinical presentation and echocardiography. “

The report continues to reveal that after being treated in August the girl returned in October complaining of the same problems.  After further medical tests doctors discovered that Awa is suffering from an advanced form of tuberculosis that has decimated her cardio-vascular system.  In short the disease has ravaged the girl’s breathing systems and because of this she is in urgent need of overseas medical attention.  Since 2006 Awa has been taking Anti-tuberculosis drugs as well as steroids to alleviate her symptoms and going for monthly follow-ups at the Serrekunda Health Centre. Awa won’t be able to obtain the medical attention she needs unless she goes overseas.  The girl is in need of a cardial valcular replacement surgery according to her medical report, an operation that can only be done overseas.

Awa is seeking assistance from the government, philanthropists, and any individual with the ability to help to do so immediately.  Those willing to help can do so by contacting either of these numbers 7081442 or 9808453

Fatou Manjang, aged four, was killed in a road accident in July of last year as she attempted to cross the road. One Lamin Dampha, who’s accused of knocking down the girl whilst driving at breakneck speed, is undergoing trial for causing death and driving a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license.

James is a single 30-something executive in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. He recently met a girl he really liked, and told IRIN/PlusNews that although she was “really good people”, he couldn't bring himself to ignore her HIV status.

"She is really pretty, really hot. I had met her about a year before, but we met again on a night out when she was on holiday from her home in the United Kingdom. We started talking about what had happened since we last saw each other, we went to a club and I ended up dropping her home.

"After that meeting we kept in touch - I guess there was an attraction there. We hung out a lot and people started to see us together. There was a rumour that when she was much younger she was in a car crash and contracted HIV through a blood transfusion she was given. But she never brought it up so I never brought it up - we just continued with the friendship.

"I didn't care one way or another about her HIV status; the problem came when she started really falling for me. One night she kissed me - I didn't resist but I had the HIV thing in the back of my mind. I figured if it's in the back of my mind then I might as well bring it up.

"So I asked her about the rumour I had heard. She cried for a while then admitted that it was true. She said HIV had gotten in the way of so many relationships. I remember her saying something really profound like the transfusion she got out of love had also given her HIV, which prevented her from getting and giving love. It was a really sad moment.

"I wish I could look past it, but I can't. I would have been willing to make the relationship sexual but I really couldn't bring myself to get over it. I know all the statistics, that I'm unlikely to get it if I use a condom, that so many people are in relationships where one person has it and another doesn't, but even if it's like only a tiny zero point zero something chance, I'm not willing to risk it. I feel bad about it, but I can't change the way I feel.

"Thankfully, she and I are still good friends - she's back in London and we communicate often. I hope she finds someone who can look past her HIV status to see what a great girl she is. That person just wasn't me."

At the time of writing this story, a 23-year-old Sinchu Alagi girl was still in custody at Wellingara police station and will soon undergo trial for assault, occasioning actual bodily harm.

Fatou Bah is awaiting trial after her arrest by the police in Wellingara for lacerating one Isatou Jallow with a razor blade.

The case was mentioned at the Bundung Magistrates’ Court on Monday but thanks to the prosecution’s failure to carry out its homework it had to be deferred until March 10th.

According to the charge sheet prepared by the police, Fatou Bah had used a razor blade to stab her victim but Magistrate Kumba Sillah-Janneh, presiding, elucidated that it is incomprehensible for one to use a razor blade to stab.  After this assertion, she ordered the prosecution to go back to the drawing board and reconstruct its case.  Magistrate Sillah-Janneh went on to point out that without a properly composed charge sheet, the medical certificate issued to Ms. Jallow and the statement of the accused could not be admitted as pieces of evidence.

Fatou Bah, who maintains her innocence, could in the meantime gain her liberty in the sum of D5000 with a surety in the like sum. The surety must also be a holder of a Gambian identity card.