By Bruce Asemota
Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the High Court in Banjul has dismissed the appeal of one Gibriel Gaye, an ex-soldier with the Kanilai Battalion.
Gibriel Gaye had appealed against the judgment of Kanifing Magistrates’ Court in February 2018 which had convicted and sentenced him to a fine of D1, 000, 000.00 (One Million Dalasis) or in default one (1) year imprisonment as well as a mandatory ten year imprisonment on a charge of possession of prohibited drugs for the purpose of trafficking .
However, dismissing the appeal Justice Ebrima Jaiteh said he found from the records that the conviction was indeed supported by evidence and therefore he will not interfere with the findings of the Magistrate.
The Judge noted that the issues raised in the appeal lack merit and was satisfied with the evidence produced by the prosecution.
In dismissing the appeal, the High court judge gave the following background to the case as narrated by the prosecution.
“On the 24th June 2017, Prosecution witnesses one and two (security agents) were at Mandinaba Check point when they intercepted a ‘Gelegele’ vehicle coming from Foni towards Brikama.
They parked the vehicle along the road side and a search was conducted and the accused, a soldier dressed in military uniform stationed at Kanilai Battalion was found with two bags alleged to have contained three (3) big bundles of cannabis while the other bag was containing one (1) bundle of suspected cannabis.
The two bags containing suspected cannabis were admitted into evidence and marked as Exhibits “D” and “E” respectively.
Cautionary and voluntary statements were obtained from the accused person and they were admitted into evidence in a mini trial and marked as Exhibits “A1, A2 and A3”.
Extract samples were sent to the medical and health lab for analysis and report was admitted into evidence and marked as Exhibit “D”. The suspected cannabis was weighed and a weightment certificate was issued and admitted into evidence and marked as Exhibit “C” and the suspected cannabis weighed 3kg 660g.
