By Yankuba Jallow
Kafu Bayo, the seventeenth prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of nine former senior officers of the NIA, on Wednesday June 6th told the Banjul High Court that they were transported from Mile II to Janjanbureh prisons by the Paramilitary. PW17 made this statement whilst under cross-examination by Lawyer S. Fatty for the 4th, 7th and 8th accused persons. The officers in the ongoing criminal trial face charges of murder and conspiracy to murder among others charges.
“In your evidence in Chief, you said you were taken to Janjanbureh from Mile II. Now tell the Court, who took you from Mile II to Janjanbureh,” Lawyer Fatty told the witness.
“Yes, we were transported to Janjanbureh by the paramilitary,” Bayo responded.
Under re-examination, the accused person was asked to state the names of the people he heard apart from Tamba Masireh.
This question was objected to by Lawyer CE Mene, Counsel for and the rest of the defence Counsels. They all stated that the answer that witness gave wasn’t ambiguous and that the purpose of re-examination was to clear doubt or ambiguity that may have arisen from cross-examination; that it was not to invent new things. They relied on Section 192 of the Evidence Act that re-examination is there to clear doubt or ambiguity that may have arisen in the course of cross-examination.
The trial judge overruled the objection of defence lawyers and allowed the questions.
In his answer to the question, the witness said in addition to the name ‘Tamba’, he also heard the names Sir Jeng and Mr. Badjie.
The matter was adjourned to Monday the June 11th 2018, at 12 noon for hearing of PW18, Modou Ngom.
In this trial former NIA personnel were nine. One of them, Yusupha Jammeh, has been discharged bringing the number of persons on trial to eight, but Foroyaa will continue to refer to it as “NIA Nine Trial” to distinguish it from the other trial of eight other NIA personnel.
