Accused in Ba Yunusa Mbye Murder Pleads Not Guilty as High Court Hears Eyewitness Testimony

The trial of Momodou Bah, popularly known as “Area,” opened before the High Court in Banjul, with the accused pleading not guilty to the murder of university youth leader Ba Yunusa Mbye.

Bah, who is charged with murder contrary to Section 155 of the Criminal Offences Act 2025, appeared before Justice S.K. Jobarteh. He was represented by Counsel M. Barrow of the National Agency for Legal Aid.

At the previous hearing, the accused informed the court that his lawyer had died. Justice Jobarteh subsequently directed the State to provide him with legal representation. During Thursday’s proceedings, the charge was read to Bah in Wolof, after which he entered a plea of not guilty.

Following the plea, the prosecution opened its case and called its first witness.

The prosecution’s first witness, Babadinding Ceesay, a security officer, told the court he knew both the accused and the deceased and regularly met them at what he described as a “ghetto” after work.

Ceesay testified that on June 15, 2026, he was sitting under a tree with Cherno Mbenga when he received a phone call. Before stepping away to answer it, Ba Yunusa Mbye arrived at the gathering.

While speaking on the phone some distance away, he said he heard an argument. According to his testimony, Mbye could be heard saying he had already lowered the volume of a radio and asking what more the accused wanted.

Ceesay said he knew the accused only by the nickname “Area” at the time and was unaware of his real name. He testified that the dispute escalated after the accused insulted the deceased’s mother over the radio’s volume despite Mbye having already turned it down.

The witness told the court that he then saw the accused pick up a bottle near a fence and rush toward Mbye. Mbye, he said, picked up a stone in response.

Before he could intervene, Ceesay testified, the accused stabbed Mbye in the neck with the bottle, after which Mbye struck the accused with the stone.

“I separated them,” the witness said, adding that Mbye immediately clutched his neck and cried out for help.

Ceesay further testified that the accused attempted to approach Mbye again before another man, identified as Demba, arrived, prompting the accused to flee.

He said he used a shirt to try to stem the bleeding after observing that the bottle had penetrated deeply into Mbye’s neck.

According to the witness, efforts were made to secure transport, and Demba Mbaye eventually drove Mbye to Ndemban Clinic, where he was pronounced dead.

Ceesay said he later gave a statement to police after officers arrived at the scene.

During cross-examination, defence counsel M. Barrow questioned the witness on his proximity to the incident and the sequence of events.

Ceesay acknowledged that he had been approximately 30 metres away and engaged in a phone call when the confrontation began, but maintained he was able to observe the incident once his attention was drawn to the disturbance.

He rejected the defence’s suggestion that Mbye threw the first stone, insisting that the accused stabbed the deceased before Mbye retaliated with a stone.

Counsel Barrow also suggested that a person who had just been stabbed would not have been capable of throwing a stone immediately. The witness disagreed, maintaining that Mbye threw the stone before becoming weak from his injuries.

When asked whether he understood the effects of such an injury despite never having been stabbed, Ceesay responded that he had previously lost fingers in a machine accident and therefore understood the severity of traumatic injuries.

He also denied suggestions that the accused worked beside the scene of the incident, stating that Bah was unemployed at the time.

Following cross-examination, the witness was discharged.

The prosecution then called its second witness, Cherno Mbenga, a watchman from Fajara, who also identified the accused as the person who stabbed Mbye.

Mbenga testified that he and the deceased were sitting together when the accused asked Mbye to reduce the volume of a radio. He said Mbye complied immediately and indicated that he did not want any trouble.

Believing the disagreement had ended, Mbenga said he began dozing under the tree before being startled awake by a glass bottle landing on him.

When he looked up, he said, he saw the accused holding the bottle.

“I asked him if he was mad and whether he wanted to kill someone,” Mbenga testified, adding that he grabbed hold of the accused.

He further told the court that another man, Demba Ndow, struck the accused with a chair after the stabbing because he refused to calm down.

According to Mbenga, the accused then collected his mobile phone and cigarettes before fleeing as bystanders pursued him.

When he returned to the scene, he found Mbye bleeding heavily while holding his neck.

Mbenga said he went in search of a taxi, but by the time he returned, Demba Ndow had already transported Mbye to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

He added that by the time he returned from an errand for his employer, he learned that the accused had been apprehended.

Under cross-examination, Mbenga confirmed that he had previously given a statement to police and could identify it.

The defence applied to tender the statement into evidence. The prosecution raised no objection, and the court admitted it.

The witness was subsequently discharged.

Justice Jobarteh adjourned the matter to July 16 at 12:00 p.m. for continuation of the trial.

The State alleges that Momodou Bah fatally stabbed Ba Yunusa Mbye in the neck with a broken bottle in Fajara on June 15, 2026. Bah has denied the charge and remains on trial before the High Court.