By Nelson Manneh
Justice Kumba Sillah-Camara of the Banjul High Court, yesterday the 6th of May 2019 admitted in evidence the transcript of an audio transcribed by Habibatou Jallow the thirty-fifth (PW 35) Prosecution Witness in the trial of former NIA Director Yankuba Badjie and others.
Habibatou Jallow, a staff of the Judiciary of The Gambia had earlier testified in the case of the former intelligence chiefs who are facing counts ranging from conspiracy to commit felony, assault causing grievous bodily harm, murder and making false documents, among others which they denied.
Yesterday when the case was called before Justice Kumba Sillah-Camara of the Banjul High Court, Defence Lawyer S Fatty told the court that the transcribed document should not be accepted by the court.
He argued that the proper foundation had not been laid by the prosecution in line with section 22 of the Evidence Act and therefore the court should reject the application sought by the State.
Justice Kumba Sillah-Camara in her ruling said the document is relevant to the matter and it is signed by the witness who transcribed the audio. The document was then accepted and marked as Exhibit V1.
At this juncture, the matter was then adjourned till today, the 7th of May 2019 for cross-examination of PW35.
Our readers could recall that Habibatou Jallow previously told the court that she is the one who transcribed the Audios in the external hard drive and the video that was recorded during the interview of some officers in connection to the demise of the Late Ebrima Solo Sandeng.
The witness said the external hard drive and the video were given to her by the Judicial Secretary to transcribe.
PW 35 said she started with the audio and later went on to transcribe the content of the video, that the process took place in December 2017.
The witness said the audio recordings in the external hard drive and the video were in Mandinka, Wolof and in English and she can speak all these languages.
PW 35 said after she transcribed the audio and the video, she printed out the documents, signed them and handed them back (the audio, the video and the scripts) to the Judicial Secretary.
The accused persons are: Yankuba Badjie, an ex-director general of the NIA, Sheikh Omar Jeng, an ex-director of operations at the NIA, Baboucar Sallah, Haruna Suso, Tamba Mansareh, Lamin Darboe, and Lamin Lang Sanyang. The 2nd accused person Louise Gomez, an ex-deputy director general of the said agency, passed away in Government custody, during the course of the trial. However, Yusupha Jammeh, the 6th accused person was discharged by the Court, upon the State’s application.
