Supermarket Owner Arraigned for Selling Expired Foodstuff

By Muhammad Bah The proprietor of the A-Z supermarket at Westfield, Mr. Nabi Chamlaush, appeared before Magistrate Sheriff Tabally on Monday, 15^th September, 2014 for alleged possession of expired foodstuff at his place. Sergeant Yaya S. Colley appeared for the Inspector General of Police (IGP) while Lawyer S. Akinbo represented the accused person. Giving his testimony, Lieutenant Alhagie Camara, the first prosecution witness (PW1), told the Court that he is a military officer and a member of ‘Operation bulldozer’ which is based in Kanifing. He said he recognizes the accused person. He identified him as the owner of A-Z supermarket situated at Westfield. Lieutenant Camara told the court that on the 14 January 2014, his team was in an operation around the Kanifing Municipality and came across the accused person when one of the members of his operation team, by the name Alassan Bah, stopped to buy some things from the supermarket owned by Mr. Nabi, the accused. PW1 said a few minutes after this member of his team (Bah) went into the supermaket, he (Camara) received a call from him (Bah) asking him to come to the supermarket. He said when he arrived at the place, Mr. Bah showed him some items which he suspected to be expired. He said he then proceeded to ask the owner to follow them to their base in Kanifing for investigation, adding that they called one Mr. Njie, a health official, who after checking the food items confirmed that they have expired Lieutenant Camara further told the Court that from there he opened a case file which he forwarded to the police prosecution unit. When Sergeant Colley asked the witness whether he could be able to recognize the items if they are shown to him, he responded in the positive. He was then shown 5 small bags of ‘dominion’ moist crystal sugar and a bag full of Colgate packets which he confirmed as the items they seized from the supermarket. The prosecution proceeded to tender the said items as exhibits A and B respectively and which the defence did not object to. The Court admitted the items as tendered. At this stage, Lawyer Akinbo, representing the accused person, applied for an adjournment to enable him to properly cross-examine PW1. The case is adjourned to the 29 September, 2014 for the defence’s cross examination of the witness.  ]]>