Ousainou Bojang took the stand on Thursday as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), A.M. Yusuf, began his cross-examination with a firm and precise approach. The prosecution sought to challenge Bojang’s testimony, aiming to convince the court that he was responsible for the fatal shooting of an officer on September 12, 2023, at the Sukuta-Jabang traffic light.
Below is the verbatim exchange between DPP A.M. Yusuf and Ousainou Bojang during the cross-examination.
DPP: The white lady you said made your nude video viral, what is her name?
Ousainou: Claudette Francis.
DPP: She is also the owner of the apartment you work at?
Ousainou: She is the owner of one apartment.
DPP: Who owned the apartment?
Ousainou: This is called a Smiling Coast apartment, and each apartment is sold to one individual.
DPP: When did you first meet the white lady?
Ousainou: I first met her in January 2023.
DPP: When did you start working at the apartment?
Ousainou: At the end of 2021.
DPP: It is correct that she met you at the apartment where you are working.
Ousainou: Yes, she found me there while I was working.
DPP: How often is she in the Gambia?
Ousainou: That year was the first year I met her.
DPP: When did she own the apartment?
Ousainou: I don’t know.
DPP: When did you become a friend or boyfriend?
Ousainou: That started in February 2023.
DPP: Since you met her in February 2023, has she been in the Gambia?
Ousainou: Yes, she was already in the Gambia.
DPP: Was she there until your arrest?
Ousainou: No, that is not true.
DPP: When did she leave the Gambia after you met in January?
Ousainou: She left the Gambia on April 19, 2023.
DPP: When did she come back?
Ousainou: She did not come back. I’m not aware of it.
DPP: The naked pictures and videos that show, your nude, when was it taken?
Ousainou: I didn’t see it myself.
DPP: When did you become aware that those pictures or videos were on social media?
Ousainou: I became aware in September 2023.
DPP: How did you know since you said you have never seen it?
Ousainou: I went to my friend. He told me about the videos.
DPP: Which of your friends?
Ousainou: Ousman Colley. It is not only him. It was Sidi Sonko at the police station who told me about it. I asked him whether he was aware of my nude video and he said yes, he was aware of it. He advises me to stay away from the public and avoid public transport.
DPP: Did your friend show you those pictures?
Ousainou: No. When I asked him, he told me that those pictures were of his cousin’s brother.
DPP: Do you know Famara?
Ousainou: The Famara I know are many.
DPP: Who comes to your mind?
Ousainou: My colleague who I worked with, my friend and my elder brother’s name is Famara.
DPP: Do you know Lamin Bojang?
Ousainou: Yes.
DPP: Someone called Pa, do you know him?
Ousainou: That Lamin Bojang is called Pa.
DPP: When you heard about the nude videos, did you tell your sister?
Ousainou: Yes, I told him.
DPP: When?
Ousainou: That happened on 11th September 2023.
DPP: Did you inform, Pa Bojang, your brother?
Ousainou: No, I didn’t tell him.
DPP: Apart from your sister, did you tell anyone?
Ousainou: Yes.
DPP: Who?
Ousainou: Catherine and Sharon. I also went to the Senegambia Police Station and told Yero Saidy.
DPP: When did you inform Yero Saidy?
Ousainou: That happened on 12th September on Tuesday.
DPP: Is it correct that that was in the afternoon?
Ousainou: It happens around 11 and 12.
DPP: It is correct that you told one Ousman Manneh?
Ousainou: Yes.
DPP: That is the junior of Yero Saidy?
Ousainou: I met Ousman Manneh at Coco Ocean with Lamin Fatty.
DPP: What did you go to do at Coco Ocean?
Ousainou: My boss Sharon called me there. She was there with the CID, Ousman Manneh and Lamin Fatty.
DPP: When she called you there, what happened?
Ousainou: When I arrived there, they gave me a chair in the security room. I called her and she told me to wait for her. Vehicles were passing but I don’t know if those vehicles passing, Ousman and Lamin Fatty were there. When I met Sharon, I explained it to her. The same thing I told the CID. The CID asked me if I had the video, and I told him I didn’t have it, but my friend told me about it. He told me to go to Brufut together, and we went there to the white lady’s apartment, and they confirmed that it was her apartment.
DPP: Where does Sharon leave?
Ousainou: She leaves in Brufut at the apartment.
DPP: It is correct that Sharon knows your relationship with the white lady?
Ousainou: Yes, she knows about it.
DPP: It is correct that it is that very day you told Sharon about the video?
Ousainou: It was on the 11th I informed her about the video. On the 12th, before she left for work, she told me to meet her at Coco Ocean with the CID boy.
DPP: Did Lamin Fatty call Yero Saidy and inform him about your nude video?
Ousainou: That is not clear to me.
DPP: After when you left Brufut together with the CID to Senegambia police station, where did you go?
Ousainou: After there, I went home. I alighted at the main junction of Brufut called Gamtel junction and went down to the beach and bought lunch. From there, I went home. And after 5 pm I went to work.
DPP: What time do you report to work?
Ousainou: I arrived early at the workplace. I report at 7 but I arrive around 5 to 6 pm so that I can speak to Sharon and tell her how my interaction went between the CID and I.
DPP: What time do you report to work on that day?
Ousainou: On that day I reported at 6.
DPP: Who was there before you?
Ousainou: Famara Badjie was there. He is my colleague and a security officer as well.
DPP: It is correct that when you arrived, Famara closed from work and left the apartment?
Ousainou: No, he did not go home. We work on time. He was there until 7 pm on closing time and he left. When I arrived there at 6, I went to see Sharon until 7, and I came back to the guard room, and that was the time Famara closed from work.
DPP: Ousainou, have you ever made any naked videos or pictures with Claudette during her stay?
Ousainou: I spent time with her in her apartment. She is capable of recording me without my notice.
DPP: Ousainou, when did you become aware that she was capable of doing it?
Ousainou: When I became aware of that, was when she told me if I was not careful, she would expose me. She told me I misused her money and that my friend, Famara Sarjo, told her about that.
DPP: Ousainou, by then you trust her so much?
Ousainou: By then, there was love between us.
DPP: Ousainou, when did the love stop?
Ousainou: When the money issue came between us.
DPP: Ousainou, if she can do video calls, you can also allow her to take pictures of you?
Ousainou: Then there was love between us. I never thought she would abandon me.
DPP: Ousainou, I’m putting it to you, if she is to record you nude, she does not have to do it in secret?
Ousainou: When she was taking the naked video, she was not in the Gambia. By then, she was in England.
DPP: Ousainou, since the video call, both of you were naked and none objected. But by the time you were in the room, she didn’t need to hide the camera in the apartment if you did not object to it. She will take it openly?
Ousainou: If I was aware of that, I would not agree.
DPP: Ousainou, but you agreed to do the live naked video call?
Ousainou: Yes.
DPP: Ousainou, you said on 12th September 2023, at 11 O’clock, you said you left the lodge and went to the shop.
Ousainou: Yes.
DPP: Ousainou, it is correct that on your way to the shop, some of your friends inform you that two policemen were shot to death?
Ousainou: Yes, I found them looking at a phone. I told my elder brother Famara Bojang to keep an eye on the lodge because I was going to the shop.
DPP: Ousainou, and it is correct that it was on your way to the shop; some of your friends who were outside the lodge informed you that they had seen on social media that some policemen were killed?
Ousainou: Yes, when I opened the gate I found them concentrating on a phone. My elder brother Famara Bojang was there, and Karlo, who is his friend Bakary Jarju and Junior too were there. Junior was on the phone.
When I got there, I called Famara to keep an eye on the gate for me that I was going and would be coming back. Before leaving, Famara said that they had seen something on Junior’s phone.
I asked him what it was, and Famara told me to come and look and that they had seen two police officers shot. I told him that it was very serious. I left for the shop, but I didn’t spend much time there.
DPP: Ousainou, is it correct that when you came back from the shop, you went inside the compound and had a meeting with your brother, Pa Bojang?
Ousainou: Yes. When I came back from the shop, I asked Famara if Pa was inside the compound and he told me he was there. I had a business with Pa that’s why I went to see him.
DPP: Ousainou, when you met with Pa Bojang, you asked him for forgiveness?
Ousainou: No. I have no problem with Pa.
DPP: Ousainou, what did you discuss with Pa?
Ousainou: That is my personal business with Pa.
DPP: Ousainou, personal business, and you wake him up that night at 11 for a chat?
Ousainou: I did not wake him up. Pa was sitting in his living room.
DPP: Ousainou, what did you discuss with him?
Ousainou: That is my own personal business.
DPP: Ousainou, what personal business?
Ousainou: It was my problem with my white lady. The money she alleged that I misused. That is what I discussed with Pa.
DPP: Ousainou, what again?
Ousainou: That is all.
DPP: Ousainou, why were you hesitant that it was about the money?
Ousainou: That is my business between me and my brother. It can please me to say it. Pa knows my relationship with Famardid a Sarjo and I also told him to speak with Famara Sarjo.
DPP: Ousainou, did you inform him that night that the white lady threatened to publish your naked video?
Ousainou: No, I did not tell him.
DPP: Ousainou, when you hear about the shooting of the police officers, did you check the social media?
Ousainou: No, I did not. That is not my business.
DPP: Ousainou, after the meeting with your brother, did you talk to any other person?
Ousainou: Yes, I met with Sulayman Faal; he is renting the apartment. He used to go to a party with his lady. I asked him if he was going out and he said he was going to the shop. I told him to be careful because I showed on Junior’s phone that two police officers were shot.
DPP: Ousainou, it is your business to tell Sulayman not to go out because some police officers were shot even though Sulayman told you that he was going to the shop. Is that your business to tell him to be careful?
Ousainou: Yes, because I am a security officer at the apartment, and they are under me.
DPP: Ousainou, did you inform Pa Bojang that night that some police officers were shot dead?
Ousainou: I did not tell Pa Bojang anything.
DPP: Ousainou, look at exhibit D22, your mobile phone, did you see some applications there?
Ousainou: Yes. I see some applications.
DPP: Ousainou, can you mention them?
Ousainou: Google Go, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Glarry, calendar, files, YT music and Drive are there.
DPP: Ousainou, is it correct that Exhibit D22 is not your first smartphone?
Ousainou: Yes, it is not my first smartphone.
DPP: Ousainou, look at those applications. Did you see Facebook apps there?
Ousainou: Yes, Facebook is there.
DPP: Ousainou, have a look at exhibit D22 again. Look at those apps. Did you see Instagram there?
Ousainou: Yes.
DPP: Ousainou, did you see Twitter there?
Ousainou: Yes.
DPP: Ousainou, so, in essence, all the social media apps and applications are in that phone?
Ousainou: I cannot say that.
DPP: Ousainou, is there any particular application you did not see?
Ousainou: There are a lot of social media apps.
DPP: Ousainou, which applications are not there?
Ousainou: I don’t see Soma, Viber, Dipsy, Yahoo, and Hotmail.
DPP: Ousainou, when were you precisely informed about the naked video?
Ousainou: It was on 11 September.
DPP: Ousainou, your mobile number is 2240764; apart from this number, do you have another number?
Ousainou: No, I have another number, which is Qcel, in my router.
DPP: Ousainou, it is correct that the Qcel number you don’t use it to make calls?
Ousainou: I don’t use it to make calls.
DPP: Ousainou, on 12th September 2023, who was the last person you talked to over the phone?
Ousainou: I don’t remember.
DPP: Ousainou, on 13 September 2023, who was the first person you called in the morning?
Ousainou: I can’t remember.
DPP: Ousainou, on 13 September 2023, that was the day after the shooting of the police officers, who was the last person you called?
Ousainou: By then, I was on a trip, and I last spoke with my sister to remind her I was charging my smartphone and for her to unplug it.
DPP: Ousainou, how did you call her?
Ousainou: I called her through my simple phone. I called her while I was on a motorcycle at Jululung.
DPP: Ousainou, on 13 September 2023, who was the first person who called you?
Ousainou: I can’t remember.
DPP: Ousainou, on 13 September 2023, before you left Brufut, did you speak to anybody?
Ousainou: Then my phone was off. I removed my SIM card from my smartphone and put it in my simple phone. I didn’t talk to anyone on WhatsApp. The last person I spoke to was Catherine on WhatsApp.
DPP: Ousainou, when did you inform your sister about the naked video?
Ousainou: On the 11 September. I went to her house.
DPP: Ousainou, when last did you speak with her?
Ousainou: Before my trip, I talked to her in the morning around 11.
DPP: Ousainou, before you speak with her in the morning at 11 who else did you talk to?
Ousainou: I cannot remember.
DPP: Ousainou, you speak to many people before you speak to your sister on 13 September?
Ousainou: Yes.
The case was adjourned to Monday for continuation.