By Mustapha Jallow
Police investigators have arrested a man on Tuesday, for the alleged murder of one Fatou Loum, a 20-year-old who was purportedly attacked at her salon few days ago in Kololi.
The suspect Papa Ibrahima Haliloulaye Thiam, a Senegalese, according to investigators is now under Police custody and is helping them in their investigation.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, at a press conference held at Kotu Police Station, where the suspect was paraded in front of reporters, Police spokesperson, Superintendent David Kujabi said the deceased, Fatou Loum, was murdered in her beauty salon in Kololi with her mouth gagged and her hands and legs tied before she was strangulated to death.
He said this prompted the police to launch their investigation and arrest the suspect. Luckily, he said the investigation yielded dividend and the suspect Ibrahima was arrested by the investigators.
‘‘The suspect claimed that he came to The Gambia in December 2017, and barely a month and some weeks he was accused of committing a crime in the country,’’ he told reporters.
PRO Kujabi said during the interrogation of Ibrahima, the suspect told them, “the girl visited him at Serrekunda in the morning of 24 January 2018 because she wanted her clothes to be sewn. The deceased got the desire to steal from Fatou Loum, and as a result he attacked her at the back and held her on the neck which resulted to her death. And it was after her death he decided to tie her legs and hands and gagged her mouth.”
He further said that the suspect has been charged with murder contrary to section 187 of the Criminal Code Cap 10.01 Volume 3 laws of The Gambia 2009.
“The police are doing everything we can. We are patrolling 24 hours and our intelligence are everywhere. But when you look at these cases these are people who murder those who are close to them. I want the general public to be cognizant that we must be carefully with the people we meet, because security starts with yourself. Yes, we expect the police to provide security but the security must begin with yourself. Let us take personal security as a priority,” he urged.
He however thanked the Police detectives who investigated the matter for their commitment in ensuring that the suspect is arrested within the shortest possible time.
