By Kemeseng Sanneh (Kexx)
The trial of Mariama Naba Darboe, who is accused of directing a “parental insult” at the President of The Gambia, opened Wednesday before the Brikama Magistrates’ Court with the testimony of the prosecution’s first witness, a cook from Tanji who shared a public vehicle with the accused on the day of the incident.
Darboe, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged under Section 107(2) of the newly enacted Criminal Offences Act 2025, which criminalizes parental insults against public officials, including the President, Vice President, Cabinet Ministers, National Assembly Members, and civil servants. She is also charged with giving false information.
The prosecution alleged that on July 5, 2025, in Tanji, Kombo South, Darboe insulted the President of The Gambia using obscene language. “She said ‘motherfucker,’ referring to the president,” testified the first prosecution witness, Salimatou Yaffa, during questioning by Assistant Superintendent of Police O. Bobb, who appeared for the Inspector General of Police.
Yaffa, a resident of Tanji, told the court that she and the accused were passengers in the same vehicle traveling from Tanji toward the Turntable junction between 4 and 5 p.m. Their vehicle, she said, was among several stopped in a forested area near Ghana Town to make way for a presidential convoy.
“She asked me what was happening,” Yaffa recalled in her testimony. “I told her it is the president who is passing, that’s why the vehicles are packed, as he will lay a foundation in Sanyang.” She said Darboe then responded, “This motherfucking president.”
When asked by ASP Bobb to identify which president the statement referred to, Yaffa replied, “The President of the Republic of The Gambia. President Barrow.”
Yaffa said she challenged Darboe immediately. “Don’t insult the president,” she told her. “You don’t have the right to.” But Darboe, she said, responded: “It is democracy.” Yaffa said she then replied, “You have the right to speak your mind, but not to insult the president.”
What followed, she testified, was a “push and pull in the vehicle,” with other passengers intervening and urging Darboe not to insult the President.
The commotion reportedly continued until the vehicle arrived at a checkpoint near a five-star hotel in Brufut, where a traffic officer named Amie inquired about the disturbance. “I explained the situation,” Yaffa said. “Officer Amie asked the accused if she had insulted the President, and she repeated the same insult.”
Both Yaffa and Darboe were asked to step down from the vehicle and taken to Brufut Police Station. Yaffa testified that at the station, Darboe repeated the same language when asked about the nature of the insult. “She said a ‘motherfucker president,’” Yaffa told the court.
At the police station, Yaffa said officers informed Darboe of the seriousness of her statement. “A police officer asked the accused if she knew the gravity of what she said, emphasizing that no one insults the police according to our new laws, much less the president,” Yaffa said.
Yaffa said Darboe responded, “I wasn’t talking to her.” Yaffa added that she told Darboe: “The president you are insulting is an elderly statesman,” to which Darboe replied, “He is not older than me.” Yaffa responded, “The nation is older than you, and he is ruling the nation.”
According to Yaffa, both her statement and Officer Amie’s were taken down at the station.
During cross-examination, defence counsel Lamin J. Darboe — appearing for the accused alongside Counsel J. Jeng and F. Conteh — questioned Yaffa about her literacy and the basis for her report to police.
“Can you please tell the court if you are literate?” Counsel Darboe asked.
“Not too much,” the witness replied.
Darboe pressed further: “What did you say the accused stated that offended you to report her to the police?”
“We met in a vehicle and she insulted the president,” Yaffa responded.
“How did she insult the president?” Counsel Darboe asked.
“She asked me what was happening. Why are the vehicles packed at the roadside? I told her because the president will lay a foundation at Sanyang. Then she said, ‘this mother fucking president.’”
Darboe questioned how the police became involved if Yaffa had not initiated a complaint.
“You said you didn’t report, so how did the police get to the police?” he asked.
“When she said ‘mother fucking president,’ I told her not to insult the president. That is what led to the push and pull in the car, and the vehicle was stopped by the traffic officer on the road who then asked why the noise in the car,” Yaffa explained. “I told her the accused insulted the president. Then she asked what kind of insult she said. Then she said I was not talking to this lady. I said ‘mother fucking president.’ Then the police got us down and took us to the Brufut police station.”
Darboe asked whether the insult was recorded.
“When she repeated the insult, did you record it?” he asked.
“No,” said Yaffa.
“Was she asked at the police station whether she said that?”
“Yes, she was asked.”
“Did you record it by any chance?”
“No.”
“Did you know if Amie recorded it?”
“I don’t know.”
The defence then turned to the witness’s written statement at the station.
“Have you made a statement at Brufut Police Station?” Darboe asked.
“Yes,” said Yaffa.
“Did you write the statement yourself?”
“No, I didn’t write.”
“When the statement was written, did you sign it?”
“Yes.”
“Did you also provide your phone number to the police?”
“Yes.”
Counsel Lamin J. Darboe tendered the witness statement into evidence. With no objection from the prosecution, the statement was admitted as Defense Exhibit DW1.
With no further questions, the witness was discharged. The case was adjourned to Thursday, July 11, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., for the testimony of the second prosecution witness (PW2).
