A security guard, who was off duty during a violent robbery at United Vegetable Oil Company on New Year’s Eve, took the witness stand Monday, offering secondhand accounts and limited observations as the prosecution’s second witness in the ongoing trial of three men accused in the heist.
Muhammed Amulu, a Banjul resident and night watchman at the company’s Denton Bridge location, told the court he had left his post on the evening of December 31, 2024, to buy food in Banjul. While there, he said, he received a phone call from his brother, also a guard at the company, informing him of a break-in.
“He said he was attacked, tied up, and that they stole money,” Mr. Amulu testified.
Upon learning of the incident, Mr. Amulu said he hired a taxi back to Denton Bridge and alerted soldiers stationed nearby. The soldiers accompanied him to the scene, where he discovered the company’s safe had been broken into. He said the company’s chief executive officer was subsequently notified and later reported the incident to the police.
According to Mr. Amulu, the safe was kept inside a small room within the premises. He told the court he observed a screwdriver near the damaged safe, which he believed had been used to force it open.
During cross-examination, defense counsel Alieu Jallow sought to clarify the limits of the witness’s knowledge. Mr. Amulu conceded that he had been employed at the company for “one year and a few months” and acknowledged he did not witness the robbery firsthand. “No, I missed seeing him,” he said in response to whether he had seen the accused at the scene. When pressed further, he agreed, “Yes,” that he was not present during the incident.
Mr. Amulu testified that one of the accused, identified as Jobarteh, was known to him and frequently visited the CEO to work on the latter’s car, describing him as a “machine” — local slang for a mechanic.
Defense lawyer E. Sanneh challenged Mr. Amulu on the question of the stolen money, which the witness had said was reportedly taken from the CEO’s office. Mr. Amulu admitted that he had no access to that office and therefore could not verify whether money was missing. “Yes, between me and God I don’t know,” he replied when asked under oath if he could confirm a theft had occurred.
The defense further emphasized that the entirety of Mr. Amulu’s testimony concerning the robbery relied on what he had been told by others. “Yes, I wasn’t there and all I said is what I was told,” he said.
In a brief re-examination, state prosecutor M. Mballow asked the witness to clarify his statements. Mr. Amulu said that while his initial account came from his brother, his later observations at the scene — including the broken safe and the abandoned screwdriver — confirmed that an incident had taken place.
The trial is scheduled to resume on May 26, 2025, at midnight.
