By Lamin Fatty
In a case that captivated residents of the rural Upper River Region for more than a year, the High Court in Basse on Friday acquitted and discharged Salieu Bah, a murder suspect who had long stood accused of killing 38-year-old Demba Jallow, for lack of sufficient evidence.
Justice Landing M. Sanneh, presiding over the provincial court, ruled that the prosecution failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that Bah was responsible for Jallow’s death, bringing an end to a trial that highlighted serious evidentiary gaps, inconsistencies in witness testimony, and weak investigative procedures.
Bah, who had been charged with murder under Section 187 of The Gambia’s Criminal Code, was accused of assaulting Jallow with a stick on the night of March 25, 2023, in Bohum Kunda village. Prosecutors claimed the assault was motivated by jealousy over an alleged affair between Jallow and Bah’s third wife.
During the trial, the prosecution relied heavily on circumstantial evidence and a supposed dying declaration in which Jallow allegedly named Bah as his assailant before succumbing to his injuries en route to Bansang Hospital.
But in a nearly 100-page ruling delivered on June 20, 2025, Justice Sanneh cast doubt on the credibility of the prosecution’s key witnesses and pointed to contradictions and inconsistencies that ultimately undermined the state’s case.
“The prosecution has woefully failed to establish the fact that it was the act or omission of the accused that has caused the death of the victim, let alone to say he did it with malice aforethought,” the judge said in his decision.
A Trial Riddled with Doubts
The prosecution called ten witnesses, including relatives, police officers, and neighbors. However, none testified to having seen Bah physically assault the deceased. The key piece of the state’s argument rested on the testimony of Bubacarr Jallow (PW1), who claimed Jallow named Bah twice as his attacker while vomiting at Baja Kunda Health Centre.
The prosecution characterized this as a “dying declaration,” a legal exception to the hearsay rule under Gambian law. But the court found the statement uncorroborated by others present and noted that Jallow’s alleged last words were reported to authorities only three days after the incident — a delay the judge deemed “suspicious.”
Further discrediting this account, Justice Sanneh noted conflicting statements from Bubacarr Jallow about where and when the victim died. “There is a doubt as to where the deceased actually died… If the deceased died at Baja Kunda, he couldn’t have said it was Salieu Bah who beat him, as a dead person cannot talk,” the ruling stated.
Another critical witness, Juma Bah (PW2), testified that she saw Bah leaving the scene with a stick shortly after hearing a noise described as “terri terri.” But under cross-examination, she admitted she never saw the accused strike Jallow and could not identify the stick. The court’s own visit to the scene revealed visibility limitations and questioned her ability to make a clear identification.
“The circumstantial evidence in this case is not strong, compelling, cogent, unequivocal, and does not point irresistibly to the guilt of the accused,” the judge wrote, concluding that her testimony could not be relied upon to convict.
Disputed Forensics and Investigative Shortcomings
A pathologist’s report, which the prosecution sought to tender, was rejected by the court due to procedural issues. The court also found the investigative efforts by the police — who reportedly visited the scene three times without recovering a murder weapon or establishing a motive — to be inadequate.
The defence mounted by Bah and supported by two witnesses maintained that he had been in the mosque praying when the incident occurred. While the court did not accept the alibi in its entirety, it emphasized that the burden to prove guilt lies squarely with the prosecution, which “never shifts in a criminal trial.”
Broader Questions of Justice
Bah’s acquittal has reignited discussions about the quality of police investigations, prosecutorial diligence, and the use of circumstantial evidence in Gambia’s criminal justice system. The case underscores the challenges faced by the judiciary in delivering justice in rural areas, where limited resources and delays in evidence gathering often compromise outcomes.
For now, Salieu Bah walks free, his name cleared, but the question of who killed Demba Jallow remains unanswered.
