By Momodou Justice Darboe
A lower court in Serekunda on Tuesday ordered the remand in custody at the State Central Prisons in Banjul of all the 37 Gambian youths and nationals of other countries in the sub-region implicated in last month’s mass protests in Serekunda.
Thirty-four out of the 37 youths today appeared at the Kanifing Magistrates Court amidst heavy police presence but they could not enter their plea when an application was made by the prosecution for the matter to be transferred to the high court in Banjul as some of the indictments on the charge-sheet attract life imprisonment.
The accused persons, including three Senegalese, two Guineans and three Sierra Leoneans are charged with various offences including arson, causing panic to other members of the public, unlawful and riotous assembly, disruption of traffic and damage to property.
The charges are linked to the July 24 demonstrations in which youths descended onto the streets to protest the death of Ousman Darboe, a 33-year-old market vendor, who they say, died as a result of a torture meted out to him by members of the Anti-Crime Unit of the Gambia Police Force. Some of them congregated at the Serekunda police station before embarking on a five-kilometre trek to the Anti-Crime Headquarters in Bijilo where they were engaged in running battles with the police. Troops from the West African regional peace-keeping mission in The Gambia were deployed alongside soldiers of the Gambian army to reinforce the already overwhelmed police at the Anti-Crimes Headquarters deployed to quell the disturbances.
On Tuesday, Supt. MD Mballow, representing the Inspector General of Police, told the Kanifing Magistrates Court that arson and demolishing building are capital offenses. He further argued that since capital offenses attract life-imprisonment,the case be transferred to the Special Division of the high court. He also sought for the remand in custody of all the suspects.
But in his preliminary objection, one of the lawyers representing the 36 out of the 37 youth, Patrick Gomez, prayed the court to strike out the counts of arson and demolishing a building from the charge-sheet instead of transferring the case to the high court. The defense counsel said the issue of the transfer of the matter to high court is not mandatory but discretional. The defense lawyer further argued that it was a deliberate act on the part of the police to include arson and other counts on the charge-sheet so as to cause a long detention of the suspects.
However the presiding magistrate, at this juncture, adjourned the matter to September 3 for reply on some of the issues raised.
