By: Ousman Saidykhan
Sainabou Mbye on Tuesday testified in their ongoing manslaughter trial before Justice Jaiteh. She said never had she done anything to inflict harm on baby Muhammed, the 2-year-old boy whose death she is being tried for alongside her brother and cousin.
“I have never locked Muhammed in a vehicle. I have never done anything that will harm him because I loved him, and I used to help him a lot. I have never harmed him not to mention killing him,” Sainabou Mbye testified.
The trio, Sainabou Mbye, Cherno Mbye and Kibily Dambelly; 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively, are accused of locking Muhammed Mbye in a vehicle resulting in his death. The child is a nephew to the accused persons.
The first defendant, Sainabou Mbye told the court that she was on her phone throughout the 4th of July this year when they were transferring to their new house in Brusubi and that the child was not under her custody, debunking what the particulars of offence which allege that they locked the child in a vehicle for four hours resulting in his death.
“It is not true. Like I have said, all I used to do was to help him and his mother. What I can remember from the day is alighting from the vehicle and entering the compound; not locked or exposing him,” the first defense witness who is also the first defendant testified.
She narrated that Muhammed had a flu and chest pain before her mother put him in the vehicle and he had consumed some paracetamol and syrup they had bought for him.
The witness has also testified that during the taking of her statements, the police only told her to talk because there was too much talking and that they wanted to help her.
“They did not give me any opportunity to write for myself. They only asked me of my preferred language,” Sainabou told the court.
The witness said the independent witness, Bubacarr Colley, was not present at night and the following morning when her statements were being obtained but was only called later to sign as a witness.
She narrated that she was not satisfied with the way the doctors were handling baby Muhammed and that was why she arranged for him to be taken to Dakar for treatment.
“There was a test they supposed to conduct at night, and they did not. The following morning, the doctor asked about it; they said they forgot or something. We later realized they did not have equipment,” the witness said.
Sainabou is the first witness to testify for the defense as they opened their defense. Initially, the defense counsels were not ready to open their defense. They opted for the a “no case to answer” application which was dismissed for lack of merit.
The case was adjournment to 16th December for continuation of the defense witness, Sainabou Mbye’s testimony.
