Mr Jallow was recently arraigned before Magistrate Pa Harry Jammeh of the Brikama Magistrates’ Court on a charge of stealing, contrary to section 252 of the criminal code cap 10 volume III laws of The Gambia.

According to the facts of the case as narrated by the police prosecutor Kinteh, the theft happened on 10thNovember 2008 at Africell Brusibi. He said the accused Alasana Jallow was spotted by a staff of Africell while stealing 90 metres of tower cable valued at D1000. The Africell staff then the Africell security officer who arrested and took the accused to the Yundum Police Station.

He begged the court to tamper justice with mercy before being remanded at the Mile Two Central Prisons.

One Ebrima Bojang of Brikama town will soon know his fate at the Brikama Magistrates’ Court presided over by Magistrate Johnny Njie following his plea of guilty for stealing a goat.

According to the offence the accused Ebrima Bojong on 16th September 2008 at Brikama stole a goat valued at D1500 being the property of one Yerro Sowe.

The case was adjourned to 15th October 2008 for Judgement.

In a separate development the trial of one Modou K. Darboe could not proceed at the Brikama Magistrates’ Court presided over by Magistrate Johnny Njie as the accused defence counsel was not in court.

It could be recalled that the accused Modou K. Darboe was alleged some this year at Brikama to have obtained the sum of D60,000 from one seedy Jarra, D20,000 from Modou S. Jallow and D20,000 from Ebrima Keita with the representation that he was to facilitate them to travel to Denmark with the Gambia Scout Association to attend the International Scout Jamburee which representation he knew to be false or does not believed it to be true.

The case was adjourned to 23rd October 2008.

Magistrate B.O. Jobe of the Bundung Magistrates’ Court will, in a little more than a week’s time, deliver his verdict in the case of a sheep ‘thief’.

One Samba Jobe will on the 8th of July 2008, know his fate as the Bundung Magistrates’ Court prepares the ground for judgement in his case for ‘stealing’ two sheep.

The details of the case had it that one Lamin Ceesay had, in October of 2007, taken his sheep to the fields in Wellingara for grazing. However, the facts say, Jobe came in the absence of Lamin, untied the sheep and took them to Serekunda where he sold them to one Fatou Nyang at D1900.

The two sheep have been recovered following an investigation mounted by the police in Wellingara, concluded the facts.

Magistrate Kayeodi of the Banjul Magistrates’ Court was recently a tough man when he slammed a 22-month jail term on one Amadou Corr without any alternative of court fine.

Amadou was found guilty of three counts of burglary contrary to section 281 (a) of the Criminal Code, Cap.10, Vol. III of the Laws of Gambia.

According to particulars of his offences, Amadou, in February 2008, broke into the dwelling house of one Omar Faal and stole three mobile phones, a gold-plated watch and D1500.

In handing down his verdict, Magistrate Kayeodi pointed out that he would show a degree of leniency with the convict since he had not wasted the court’s time but stressed that he should nonetheless be made to embrace the warmth of justice.

The acquittal by a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of a militia leader convicted of war crimes has drawn criticism, with human rights activists saying the decision could set a bad precedent in a country where armed groups have committed atrocities against civilians with impunity.

The Court of Appeal in Kisangani, capital of the northeastern Orientale Province, on 15 February acquitted Yves Panga Mandro Kahwa, former leader of Parti pour l'Unité et la Sauvegarde de l'Intégrité du Congo. The armed group was active in the volatile district of Ituri.

A military tribunal had in August 2006 sentenced Kahwa to 20 years’ imprisonment after ruling that he had committed crimes against humanity between 15 and 16 October 2002, when 10 people died after he set fire to a health-centre, schools and churches in the Zumbe and Bedu Ezekere localities, 10km southeast of Bunia, the main town in Ituri.

The tribunal also ordered Kahwa to pay 14 victims of his crimes between US$2,500 and $75,000 in compensation.

"If it is on the basis of the amnesty law that the court arrived at the decision to acquit, then that law could give free rein to impunity and set a bad precedent for criminals to escape justice while the victims are abandoned without compensation and reparation," said Joel Bisubu, a human rights activist with an NGO known as Justice, based in Bunia.

The government and armed groups in Ituri signed peace agreements in 2006 outlining plans to disarm militia members, with the assistance of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC). In exchange, the government proposed an amnesty for the signatories and agreed to recognise officers from the groups.

MONUC also expressed its concern over the acquittal.

"The Court of Appeal based its decision on the grounds that all the offences are covered by the law on amnesty as acts of war and political offences. This unprecedented recourse to the amnesty law in the light of massacres of the civilian population, which could be characterised as crimes against humanity, is a worrying development in the fight against impunity in the DRC," said Kemal Saiki, MONUC spokesman, adding that the country's amnesty law did not provide for indemnity for suspects of crimes against humanity.

The prosecutor general of Kisangani, Nestor Botela, said he was prepared to lodge an appeal against Kahwa's acquittal, but he was waiting to study the law invoked by the Court of Appeal when it arrived at the decision.

"I expect that the law upon which the decision was based will be presented to me to see whether it conforms [to the amnesty law]," he added.

The judges who issued that verdict have, however, since been retired under an ongoing bid by President Joseph Kabila to restructure the judiciary.

The attorney general of Kisangani has to lodge an appeal against the ruling within 10 days from the date it was made, according to Chris Aberi, the prosecutor general of Ituri.

The case involving Kawsu Ceesay, the former Chief Electoral Officer of IEC, was adjourned to the 17th March 2008, for judgement by magistrate Sainabou Wadda-Ceesay of the Kanifing Magistrate’s Court.
 
Prior to the adjournment, state counsel Umar and the defence counsel, lawyer Batchilly, adopted their written addresses.

Kawsu Ceesay was earlier arraigned before magistrate Secka of the Kanifing Magistrate’s Court and charged with forging the signature of the former Chairman of IEC, an allegation he totally denied.

Magistrate Wadda-Ceesay took over the case after magistrate Secka had left to further his education. She is expected to go through the pieces of evidence before her to come up with a verdict on 17th March, 2008.

Mustapha Bojang and Famara Colley, former Kanilai farm employees who were recently convicted and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by the Kanifing Magistrates Court, have appealed against the verdict.

The case was mentioned on Wednesday before Justice Na Wadda-Ceesay of the Banjul High Court.

It will be recalled that the applicants, Mustapha Bojang and Famara Colley, both former Kanilai Farm employees, were found guilty by the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court, presided over by Magistrate Pa Harry Jammeh, of stealing D19.5M, funds found to be lawful property of Kanilai Farm. They were sentenced to prison terms of 14 years each.

The appeal case was subsequently adjourned to 6th and 7th February for continuation.

A Banjulinding youth, Lamin Fatty, late last week startlingly told the Brikama Magistrates’ Court that he had been incarcerated for quite a while and had consequently grown sex-starved thus forcing him to attempt rape.

Lamin was recently found guilty of attempting to rape a girl in the outskirts of Banjulinding and could now spend another three years in jail if the verdict delivered by magistrate Edrisa Mbai could be any guide.

Before the verdict was handed down, the convict told the court that his action was in response to a strong desire to quench his sexual desire, having been incarcerated for a time. He, therefore, made a passionate appeal to the presiding magistrate to show him grace and temper justice with mercy.

But to magistrate Mbai, who clearly saw no justification for rape, justice must take its course as enshrined in law books and cherished by many. He consequently convicted Lamin and sentenced him to serve three years in jail without any option of fine.

Meanwhile, adducing the facts of the matter, the prosecution officer 413 Sanyang, narrated that the incident happened sometime last month at the periphery of Banjulinding when Lamin fell on a girl (name withheld) and attempted to have sex with her.

Barely a week after the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court sentenced Tabara Samba to death, the same Court presided over by Principal Magistrate Moses Richards has passed yet another verdict of capital punishment on another convict, a Guinean named Sulayman Bah, after the latter was found guilty of killing his housemate, Mamudou Jallow, on 1st September 2007, by hitting him with an iron bar and literally slicing off his scalp.

According to Police Prosecutor Inspector Touray, the convict, Mr. Bah, on 1st September 2007 was involved in a scuffle with the late Mamudou Jallow, over cash amount of D10, 000 that the deceased reportedly found on a chair but which the convict claimed to own. After the quarrel the deceased reportedly returned the money amid insults. Following the prolonged bickering, the convict bludgeoned the deceased with an iron bar, causing him the fatal injury to which he succumbed at the RVTH where doctors carried out a post-mortem and issued a medical report.

The convict was expressionless and tried to feign innocence, attempting to blame the murder on some unknown person. The ruse totally backfired in the face of the overwhelming evidence against him.

In his ruling, Magistrate Richards stated that offences of that kind were becoming rampant in The Gambia, noting that it is so fearsome that the courts had to do something to curtail what he said are offences alien to the cherished Gambian culture. He further asserted that some foreigners are not grateful for the traditional Gambian hospitality.

He concluded by citing section 188 of the Laws of the Gambia as stipulating that one who murders must be sentenced to death.

A five-year jail term was lately imposed on a 30-year-old resident of Serekunda in Kanifing municipality for drug-related offences.

Bala Gitteh would also spend 10 years in prisons if the verdict delivered by magistrate Edrissa Mbai of Brikama Magistrates’ Court was any guide.

Gitteh was early this year found in possession of 23kg and 220g of cannabis sativa.