Mr Bah, a cattle dealer was arrested in February 2012 accused of stabbing Galleh Njie to death with a knife. He was arraigned at the Banjul Magistrates Court the same month and was subsequently remanded at Mile 2 Central Prison. The case was then transferred to the high court which has the jurisdiction to preside over cases attracting the death penalty.
He was later arraigned at the high court and pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder. The prosecution called several witnesses including a truck driver who was said to have been present when the incident took place in Yorro Jula Kunda.
Yesterday, Bah told the court: “I was at the back of the truck when the ‘apprentice’ (the deceased driver’s mate) alighted the truck and pointed at me and said I was a stupid old man. He called me a stupid old man because I was speaking in Fula to the second apprentice who at the time was speaking Wolof. The deceased ordered me to get down from the truck. I obeyed but told him not to insult me,” Mr Bah said.
Bah said Galleh went to the front of the truck and brought an iron rod. “He hit me with the iron rod on my forehead and I fell to the ground. Somebody held him and they both fell on the ground. That was when the iron rod wounded him. I was dizzy and unconscious for some time. I sustained some injuries and I was bleeding,” the old man said.
He said by the time he regained consciousness, paramilitary officers were already on the scene and Galleh was lying on the road. “When one of the paramilitary officers asked who he had dispute with, the villagers pointed at me. I wanted to say something but a paramilitary officer took out his gun and pressed it against my stomach for me to keep quiet. I was taken to Mansa Konko together with the deceased,” he said.
At Mansa Konko police station, Bah claimed he was forced to thumbprint a statement a police officer wrote. “When I demanded the police officer to read the statement to me, he cuffed my hands and pressed my thumb on the statement. The statement would only be read to me in Banjul,” Mr Bah further testified.
According to Bah, an issue developed between him and the deceased in Sinchu Gudo village, Fulladu District where he had bought a bed. He said the deceased refused to put the bed in the back of the truck until the driver intervened. He said he had six heads of cattle in the truck which he intended to sell at Abuko.
Following the death of Galleh Njie, Bah said he was taken to Banjul and arraigned at the magistrates court before he was remanded. He said when he appeared at the high court, a judge ordered him to be taken to a hospital to be medically examined. He said he was taken to RVTH now EFSTH and his head was X-rayed.
At that point, his lawyer applied for the court to order the prison department to produce the medical document. The case was adjourned to January 22.
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