By Landing Ceesay
First Prosecution Witness (PW1) in the case of Sainabou Mbye and others, Corporal Jankey Manneh has explained how she obtained the cautionary and voluntary statements of Sainabou Mbye on 22nd July 2022.
Corporal Manneh who has been working at the Gambia Police Force Serious Crime Unit at their Headquarters in Banjul for 7 years now said she had contact with Sainabou Mbye (1st accused) on the 22nd of July 2022 at the police headquarters in Banjul, upon arrival from Senegal.
“I was assigned by one of my supervisors to obtain a cautionary statement from the 1st accused upon her return from Senegal. This was at around 8 pm. That was the time she arrived at the Police Headquarters,” Corporal Manneh told the Court on Tuesday.
She informed the court that she took Sainabou Mbye (1st accused) to one of their offices and asked her whether she would be comfortable for her cautionary statement to be taken there, and that Sainabou Mbye responded “yes.”
Corporal Manneh added that she further asked Sainabou Mbye, which language she would be comfortable with, and that she (Sainabou) told her ‘Wolof’.
“I then raised the cautionary warnings to her that she needs not to say anything unless she wishes. I told her whatever she said will be taken down in writing and may be given as evidence in a court of law. I did the explanation in Wolof language,” she told the court.
PW1 said she was in that office with Sainabou Mbye and two Police Officers who were escorts, and that the two police officers were there for the safety of Sainabou.
“She (Sainabou Mbye) started narrating her story up to around midnight. She then told me that she was so tired and needed some rest. My response to her (Sainabou Mbye) was that ‘I have to contact my supervisors’. I contacted one of them who asked me to allow her to rest. That was on the 22nd of July 2022. The following day, which was the 23rd of July 2022, I searched for an independent witness, which was early hours at around 8 am. I then received one Babucarr Colley as an independent witness,” she told the court.
Witness Manneh further told the court that she read the statement to Sainabou Mbye (1st accused) in Wolof, after she completed writing her story.
Corporal Manneh said Sainabou Mbye endorsed the statement as well as the independent witness, and then she wrote down her details as the officer who took the information.
The lead counsel for the State M.B Sowe then showed corporal Manneh the cautionary statement she obtained from the 1st accused (Sainabou Mbye) for recognition.
Counsel Sowe then applied to tender the said document to the court as part of their prosecution evidence.
Justice Jaiteh then admitted the document as exhibit P1 after the defence counsel raised no objections to it.
Corporal Manneh then continued to give her testimony to the court, and said that she was equally assigned to obtain a voluntary statement from Sainabou Mbye (1st accused).
“I then took her details and recorded them on the voluntary statement. I also read the charges against her, which she denied in the presence of the independent witness, Babucarr Colley. She then endorsed the statement,” Corporal Manneh told the court.
Counsel M.B Sowe then applied to tender the voluntary statement as part of the prosecution evidence.
Justice Jaiteh again admitted the said document as exhibit P2, following no objections from the defence.
During cross-examination, corporal Manneh told the Court that the charges against Sainabou Mbye were handed to her (Manneh) by a panel of investigators at the Police Headquarters.
The ex-wife of remanded Bob Keita Sainabou Mbye (1st accused), Cherno Mbye (2nd accused), and Kibili Dambelly (3rd accused), are charged with manslaughter, contrary to section 186 of Criminal Code Cap: 10.01 Vol.III, Laws of the Gambia 2009.
The particulars of the offence stated that Sainabou Mbye, Cherno Mbye, and Kibili Dambelly, on or about 3rd July 2022, at Kanifing and diverse places in The Gambia, by unlawful act, or omission, amounting to culpable negligence, left a two-year-old boy resident of Brusubi inside a car, which caused his death, thereby committed an offence.
The lawyers representing the state are M.B Sowe, F. Drammeh and M. Said I; while I. Drammeh is representing the accused persons the 1st accused; and C. Gaye is representing the 2nd and 3rd accused.
The case continues on Wednesday at the High Court in Banjul.