72 -year old man dies in the hands of the police

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By Mustapha Jallow

A 72-year-old, one Ebrima died while in the custody of the police on Wednesday 26 July 2017.

According to a police source, on that fateful Wednesday, the Police had executed an arrest warrant for Ebrima after a report was filed to them that the said deceased has been engaging on blackmailing people.

The source added that the body was later transported to the mortuary at Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) in Banjul for postmortem to be taken.

However, a source says that the case is now under Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for a preliminary investigation to ascertain the cause of the death.

Faji Kunda Police Post

During a visit to the station, relatives and friends of the deceased were seen giving their statements to the CID and uniformed police officers. They told this reporter that they are not aware of anything that relates to the man’s death. Attempts to obtain information relating to Ebrima’s death from the health centre where he is said to have been pronounced dead was unsuccessful.

Police spokesperson, Inspector Foday Conta told Foroyaa that the incident started when a case was reported at Faji-Kunda Police Post by one Ahmed Samba Kah, a 21-year-old petty trader.

A dispute over money between Ebrima and Samba ensued and Samba went to the nearest Police station in Faji-kunda and reported the matter to them. He said that the police on duty went for the old man and picked him up.

‘‘As he was waiting for the officers to obtain his statement and while interrogating him, the deceased started shaking and suddenly collapsed, then the police picked him and took him to Faji-kunda hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital, the nurse later realized that he passed away’’ he said.

PRO Conta said that investigation in to the matter is still going and the body is currently at the mortuary as he has no family around and the family has to give consent for a postmortem.

‘‘We’re still waiting for the family members for a postmortem to be conducted to ascertain the cause of death,’’ he said.

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