By Mamadou Dem
At the trial of of Abdoulie Ceesay, Managing Director of Taranga FM
radio yesterday 14th September, 2015 the second witness, Fatou A
Drammeh, Protocol Officer at the office of the President testified as a prosecution witness.
The ruling on the pending application for bail is scheduled forWednesday 16 September. Mr. Ceesay was denied bail by the lower court
in Banjul. Dissatisfied with the lower court verdict, his attorney
Combeh Gaye Coker filed a motion at the high court seeking for his
release on bail which was also quashed by the superior court. However,
barrister Gaye has once again pushed for bail at the high court in
Banjul urging the court to protect the fundamental and constitutional
rights of her client as stipulated under section 24 of the 1997
constitution.
The trial judge is now Justice Muhammed Dan Azumi Balarabe and Mr Hadi Saleh Barkun (DPP) is the Chief Prosecutor.
In her evidence in chief, Ms. Drammeh told the court that she lives in
New Jeswang and works as a protocol officer at the office of the
president; adding that she knew the accused person through her
colleague, Zainab Koneh who is also her friend.
PW2 testified that she shared contacts with the accused. “Few days
later, he (Ceesay) called me and told me he was travelling to America.
I wished him good luck and he promised to call me back because he
wanted reconciliation with my friend, Zainab Koneh,” said the witness.
According to the witness, at the time he knew the accused person, he
was in a relationship with Ms. Koneh and about two to three days later,
the accused called her with a New York number. “I stored the number
and we started chatting via whatsapp. I also told him that I don’t
trust him as well.” She added that she put it to the accused that the
only thing people could do for him to talk to the friend (Koneh) is to
be realistic.
Ms. Drammeh further explained to the court that about two to three
weeks later, the accused called him with an Africell number. “He called me
but I rejected the call and I sent him a message even though I had his
number, I asked who are you? He said it’s me Alagie. I said what
happened, you spent two to three weeks and you are back. Are you
deported? He (the accused) said he was not deported but was back to
sort out certain problems,” testified the witness.
Ms. Drammeh continued: “ He (the accused) told me he works for a
Company called Oracle which paid sixty percent of his air ticket. He
told me that he is an American Citizen and wanted me to meet him
somewhere for him to show me his passport but I told him that he can
send it via whatsapp. I realised that he was not willing to do that.”
The witness noted that she later asked the accused to stop sending messages to her because she did not
want to communicate with him anymore. “Previously, I stored his name as
Alagie until the day before Tobaski I changed the name to “Ala Fuck
U,” PW2 expounded.
According to the witness, she decided to change the name of the accused
in her I Phone to the above name because he sent him two images of the
President with some warning on it, telling us to stay at home on 22nd
July, 2015 because sniper 15 was to kick out the dog.
At that juncture, Attorney for Mr. Ceesay, Combeh Gaye Coker
interjected and raised an objection to that piece of evidence given by
the witness. She argued that the witness is not supposed to go into
the content of the message allegedly sent by the accused to the
witness on the ground that the prosecution has not tendered any
exhibit containing the said words or images. “The witness cannot go
into its content as reference. The telephone is not in court as
evidence,” Lawyer Gaye insisted.
Replying to the defence’s objection, the Director of Public Prosecutions
(DPP) Hadi Saleh Barkun submitted that the defence was misconceiving
the idea of ordinary documents and real evidence. “I urge the court to
discountenance her objection and allow the witness to continue.”
Justice Balarabe upheld the objection. Thereafter, DPP proceeded to
lay the foundation in respect of the nature of the phone which was
subsequently admitted in evidence as exhibit B2 upon identification by
the witness.
At that point, the witness was asked to show the court the application
in which the alleged images of the President and warning were received
and upon perusal by the presiding judge, the witness told the court
that she received the said images on the 16th of July, 2015 around 13:
16. She added that she received another picture of the president with
gun and bullets respectively at around 15:43
Reading from her I Phone 4 (exhibit B2) the witness said, “The sniper
15 advises all citizens and non citizens to stay at home on Wednesday
the 22nd of July, 2015 as our struggle to kick off the dog, kicks off
that very day. We are capable of doing anything and it might start
from the celebration ground, please stay at home for your safety.”
PW2 testified that after she allegedly received the text from the
accused, she replied and said, “Hey what the fuck is this? Who the hell
are you?”
When asked by the DPP the reasons for using such words, she said “I was
shocked because I do not know why he sent a message like this.” She
said further: “The accused then said to me, I am sorry about these
pictures. I was not sending them to you. ‘I was dissatisfied with the
words you used on me that was the least I expected from a lady like
you. I am sure am older than you are but I’ve given you all due respect
but if I offended you by mistakenly sending that to your phone, I am
sorry for that.’”
The DPP at that stage applied for the court to give an order for the
conversation that transpired between the accused and the witness on the 16th of
July this year be transcribed and printed for proper evaluation by the
court.
Lawyer Gaye submitted that she was vehemently opposed to that
application on grounds that the I Phone belonging to the witness is
already an exhibit and is in the custody of the court; adding that the
phone belongs to the court till the completion of the case. She argued
that the telephone must remain in court because they will be using
it to cross examine the witness.
Barrister Gaye further submitted to the court that the procedure for
production of evidence from electronic devices is well governed and
regulated by the Evidence Act. She then referred the court to section
22 of the Evidence Act. She said the DPP’s application lacks merit and it
is an unknown procedure of the courts. She said the proper procedure
is to call a competent witness to tell the court how the electronic
information was received in the phone. “The liberty of my client is at
stake and I would not take anything for granted,” Barrister Gaye
emphasized.
Counter replying to that objection, DPP submitted that if the
information is left in the phone, there is likelihood of the battery
running down or requiring password; adding that section 22 is of no
relevance in this case.
The trial Judge upheld DPP’s application and ordered both parties to
apply in order to get the substance upon transcription. Consequently,
the matter was adjourned till Wednesday 16th of this month for ruling
on the bail application and continuation of hearing.
Prior to PW2’s testimony, the DPP applied for the seven counts amended
information or charge be read to the accused person. However Mr.
Ceesay maintained his plea of not guilty.
The new bill of indictment filed by the state before the high court
alleged in counts two, four and seven that Mr. Ceesay had intent to
excite disaffection against President Yahya Jammeh, distributed a
seditious phrase to wit read: “The sniper is hereby advises all
citizens and non citizens to stay at their homes on Wednesday, the 22nd
of July, 2015 as our struggle to kick off the dog, begins that very day
and we are capable of doing anything and it might start from the
celebration ground. Please be at your homes for your safety Signed by
sniper 3 {sic}.”
Counts one, three, five and six are similar to the initial charge he
was being tried on at the magistrate’s court in Banjul except publication of
false news which also read as those of counts two, four and seven.
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