The courtroom fell silent Tuesday as Amie Bojang, sister of the man accused of killing two Police Intervention Unit officers in 2023, broke down in tears while opening her defense. Ms. Bojang, who is charged as an accessory after the fact, is accused of helping her brother, Ousainou Bojang, flee after the deadly September 12 shooting at the Sukuta–Jabang Traffic Light.
Taking the stand, Ms. Bojang offered an emotional account of the hours leading up to her arrest and detention at Mile 2 Prison. She insisted she did not assist her brother in evading law enforcement and said his trip to Senegal had been motivated not by a crime, but by a desperate search for spiritual help.
Ms. Bojang, who was born in Brufut and lives in Yundum, told the court she remembered the date “clearly.” On the morning of the shooting, she said, her brother arrived at her home distressed, claiming he had mishandled D40,000 belonging to a woman abroad who he described as threatening to publish his nude photographs. He needed, he told her, a marabout, a spiritual healer, to help resolve the situation.
According to her testimony, she contacted a sister in Kolda, Senegal, to arrange the visit, but the plan was delayed by a funeral in Kanilai. Ousainou, she said, insisted on traveling immediately. She persuaded him to return to Brufut temporarily and alerted other siblings, who she said were also seeking help for him.
The next day, after a call from Ousainou pleading for transportation to Senegal, Ms. Bojang hired a taxi from Brikama for D1,100 and met him in Brufut. She said the siblings rode together in the taxi toward Yundum, passing through several PIU checkpoints without incident. She told the court that throughout the ride, “we were only discussing the white lady.”
At Brikama Garage, the taxi driver proposed taking them farther to Darsilameh, where motorbikes could cross the border. Ms. Bojang said neither she nor her brother knew the area, but they agreed. Once there, Ousainou boarded a motorbike to Jululung for D250, handing her a small black bag containing his passport and national identity card before leaving.
Ms. Bojang said she returned to Yundum to cook and later went out to sell ebbeh when a neighbor called, urging her to check social media. Online, she said, she saw her brother’s photograph alongside news of his arrest in Jululung. Confused and alarmed, she contacted siblings, who told her to “take the matter slowly.”
Shortly afterward, a sister called her crying, “Don’t you see Ousainou’s picture online? They’re saying he killed two police officers.” Ms. Bojang told the court she rejected the allegation outright.
When she tried calling her brother’s phone, an unknown man answered, refused to identify himself, and said Ousainou was “in the toilet.” Fearing for her family, she went to Brufut, where she found their home surrounded by paramilitary officers who initially refused her entry.
Inside, she learned that her brother Lamin and her sister’s husband had been detained. The next day, she witnessed officers bringing Ousainou back to the compound as they searched his home and workplace. She claimed an officer, identified in court as Fakebba, attempted to force Ousainou to wear shoes that were neither his nor his size before placing them in a paper bag and leaving.
Fifteen minutes later, she said, the same officer returned, asked for her by name, and arrested her.
At Banjulinding Police Station, investigators accused her of helping her brother escape after the shooting. She said officers also suggested the opposition United Democratic Party had sent Ousainou to kill the officers — a claim she denied, saying her family was “not involved in politics.”
She recounted telling investigators about the taxi driver involved in the journey, and said the man was later questioned by the Anti-Crime Unit and released. When asked to identify the motorbike rider, she said she could only recognize him if she saw him again.
Ms. Bojang also described an encounter with Inspector Lamin Cham, who she said showed her a photograph at Airport Junction. The man in the image, she testified, “did not resemble Ousainou,” prompting the inspector to laugh before locking his phone.
Police, she said, later searched her home in Yundum, including the bathroom, before returning her to Anti-Crime Headquarters for a formal statement.
Her testimony was cut short, and the court adjourned. The defense is expected to continue on Monday, Dec. 15, at 11 a.m.