The trial of Dodou Janneh - accused of murdering the late Sherrif Minteh - could not proceed today at the Bundung Magistrates Court because the presiding magistrate, Acting Principal Magistrate Kumba Sillah-Camara, is said to have travelled.

Four suspects were yesterday arraigned before Justice Joseph Wowo of the Criminal Division of the Banjul High Court charged with murder contrary to section 187 of the criminal code cap 10 volume III laws of The Gambia 1990.

They are Alpha Joof, Ebou Demba Sowe, Abdoulie Senghorr and Sambujang Joof. They denied the charge.

According to the particulars of the offence, on or about the 28thJuly 2005, at Njongon village in the North Bank Region, the accused persons caused the death of one Ousman Njie by beating him with sticks.

Defence Counsel Sherriff Tambedou applied for a long adjournment as he would be away to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage. The state counsels, led by Marley Wood, did not object to the defence application for a long adjournment.

The case was since adjourned to 5thJanuary 2009.

In a separate but related development, one Mayombel Samuel Joel was also arraigned before the Criminal Division of the Banjul High Court charged with murder, criminal trespass and causing grievous bodily harm.

Count one, the alleged offence disclosed that on 11thFebruary 2008 at Brusibi in the Kombo North District, the accused Mayombel Samuel Joel, murdered one Therese Ogi.

The alleged offence on count two, revealed that on 11thFebruary 2008, the accused at Brusibi entered the house of Abdul Wahab Maiga with intent to intimidate him.

On Count Three, the alleged offence states that on 11thFebruary 2008, the accused at Brusibi together with others at large, caused grievous bodily harm to Abdul Wahab Maiga by inflicting on him multiple stab wounds.

He denied the charges.

The accused Mayombel Samuel Joel was represented by Lawyer Kebba Sanyang.

The case was adjourned to 9thDecember 2008.

Acting Principal Magistrate Kumba Sillah-Camara of the Bundung Magistrates’ Court has set 11th November 2008 as judgement day on the criminal murder case filed by the state against one Dodou Janneh.

She fixed the date following the adoption of addresses filed by both the prosecution and the defence.

It could be recalled that the accused Dodou Janneh is alleged to have murdered one Sheriff Minteh at London Corner, Serekunda in 2007.

In a separate development, the State has filed a fresh charge in the Zimba case against one Alieu Faal by substituting the murder charge with manslaughter.

According to the particulars of the offence, on 26th July 2008 at Bundung Mauritania the accused Alieu Faal caused the death of one Ebrima Morro Ndure, a charge he denied.

The case was adjourned until 20th October 2008.

After two years of protracted trial of Dodou Janneh who was alleged to have killed one Sheriff Minteh of London Corner, the Bundung Magistrates’ Court under her Worship Kumba Sillah-Camara  yesterday set October 6th 2008 as judgement day. 

Sheriff Minteh, a youth living in the Serrekunda suburb of London Corner, met his untimely death on the evening of 5th May 2007 allegedly stabbed by Dodou Janneh during a police raid of suspected drug users.

Janneh has since denied the charge preferred against him but has since been remanded at the State Central prison at Mile 2. The Case that suffered numerous adjournments, had as the first witness, a reporter of the Daily Observer Company Musa Ndow.

When the case was called, the prosecuting officer ASP Camara, applied for an adjournment on the ground that the case file was still with Attorney General’s Chambers for legal advice and they could not lay hands on it, and both counsel for the accused persons were absent from court, Magistrate Kumba Sillah told the prosecutor that the accused persons were presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the charge against the accused persons is not bailable so therefore the prosecutor should put his house in order so that the case can proceed.

It could be recalled that the accused persons are standing trial for allegedly murdering one Ebrima Morro Ndure, at Bundung Mauritania on 26 July 2008. They denied the charge. At that juncture the case was adjourned sine die.

Date and Publisher: 1994. Arrow Books

Page: 598;paperback

Sam Clayhall, a white supremacist, is on Death Row, for the murder of Josh and John Kramer, two Jewish children, in a bomb explosion. As he tried to escape from the scene of the crime, he was nabbed by the police. He stood trial for sometime, was released and then hauled back to the court. After a failed attempt by his lawyers to save him, he was sentenced to death. His crime broke up his family. His son Eddie, unable to come to terms with his father’s despicable life, ran away from home Clanton, Mississippi to California, to begin a new life. He changed his family name to Hall. apparently to avoid any connection with his disreputable father. But he followed his father’s trial through the newspapers and TV. When the old man was finally sentenced, Eddie committed suicide. Eddie’s son Adam Hall who got to know about the family’s past through his aunt Lee decided to study law in order to defend his grandpa. On completing law school he took up a job with Kravitz & Bane, a Chicago law firm that had been handling the Sam Clayhall case. Though a rookie lawyer, he showed unusual amount of interest and commitment in the case to the amusement and surprise of his senior colleagues who wouldn’t have anything to do with case, as Sam Clayhall had written all of them off as an incompetent lot. At last, he had his way and was allowed to carry on with the case. He plunged into the case with uncommon gusto, though he never told anyone that Sam Clayhall was his grandfather. Sam Clayhall was bewildered when the greenhorn lawyer met him at Death Row to tell him that he was about to resume the case. He dismissed him as a non-starter for two reasons. One, he came from the law firm that he despised. Two, he considered him to be inexperienced, thinking that he stood no chance of winning where his more experienced colleagues had failed. But Adam’s self-assurance and optimism impressed the old man so much so that he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. As they went over the case, Sam Clayhall saw that the young lawyer seemed to know much about him and his family. He listened more carefully and something struck a familiar chord in him: Adam Hall’s voice, which was similar to Eddie’s. Having realized that Adam was his own grandson, Sam Clayhall threw himself into the case with renewed vigour, forcing himself to believe that he had a fighting chance to escape death by hanging. The case dragged on, alternating between hope and despair. Eventually, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that Sam Clayhall had to die. Already in his late sixties, Sam Clayhall accepted the verdict with equanimity. He apologized to the family he had wronged and took full responsibility for his fate. In The Chamber, John Grisham raises the issue of changing values, Sam Clayman was born and bred in an era when it was the norm to humiliate and kill black people for the fun of it. But times change, and values become mutable; what was acceptable in one era becomes an abomination in another. Trapped in the values of a more lenient world, Sam Clayhall discovered too late, and to his own downfall, that ideals of the Ku Klux Klan are no longer tenable. Despite his violent past, Sam Clayhall comes across as a strong character who refused to betray his accomplice Rollie Wedge in order to get off Death Row. He reminds one of Oedipus, Okonkwo, or Odewale, tragic characters who when faced with the consequences of their action refused to flinch. This is a marvelous read that is worth everybody’s while. It is available at

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One Cherno Jallow, who was facing a criminal charge of murder, contrary to Section 187 of the Criminal Code Cap 10 Volume 3, Laws of The Gambia, was last Monday discharged and acquitted by Justice Mabel Mammy Agymang of the Criminal Division of the High Court in Banjul.

Mr Cherno Jallow, was accused of murdering the late Saikou Tida Jallow, a charge which he had denied from the inception of the trial.

Delivering her judgement, Justice Mabel Mammy Agymang made extensive reference to the litigation with support from the evidences adduced by both prosecution and defence witnesses, as well as the postmortem report on the body of the murdered baby, which was exhumed.

According to the High Court judge, the prosecution has a duty to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt or to prove the case to a degree of certainty, in the absence of which, no tribunal of law can convict an accused person.

“The evidence laid in this court was that, the baby was dead but the prosecution did not prove that the accused killed the baby or that the baby died in the custody of the accused.

The report of the post-mortem conducted on the baby linked the cause of death to suffocation but cannot tell whether the accused is responsible or not,”  she stated.
“The prosecution failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused person and the court, therefore, accordingly discharges and acquits Cherno Jallow of the charge preferred against him,” she concluded.

The murder trial involving one Mustapha Gaye of Faji -kunda could not proceed at the Bundung Magistrates’ Court recently as the accused is yet to secure the services of a defence counsel to represent him.

It will be recalled that the accused, Mustapha Gaye, was alleged to have murdered one Ansumana Dampha in 2007 at CharlesBar junction in Latri-kunda Sabiji by stabbing him with a broken bottle. He denied the charge.

The case was adjourned to a later date to enable legal representation to be provided for the accused.