By Mafugi Ceesay
One Mansour Barry of Kuloro village has told The Standard that his family is still waiting for justice in the case of the mysterious death of his niece, Kaddy Jarju.
The late Kaddy Jarju’s sad ending started in July last year when she went missing from her parents’ house in Kuloro.
A frantic search by her family lasting well over a month resulted in nothing. Her whereabouts only came to be known to the family after a month when her relatives were contacted by one Alieu Jawo, (suspected to be the boyfriend and kidnapper) to receive her dead body.
According to Mansour Barry, when they brought the dead body, the family insisted to know what had happened to young Kaddy who had not been seen for a month. “The family instantly involved the police who arrested Alieu, his mother Hawa Jawo and uncle Samba Jawo. The dead body was referred to the Brikama mortuary as the case was investigated, before being transferred to Banjul,” Mansour said.
Mansour Barry said the suspected kidnapper, Alieu Jawo is believed to have kept the girl at his village in Niamina Diabugu. In his absence, (as he frequently visits the Kombos), the young girl was left with Alieu’s family in the village.
Barry said it was just few days when Alieu was in the Kombos that his mother reportedly called him to say that Kaddy was dead. Mansour Barry said the Jawo family arranged among themselves to bring Kaddy’s dead body to her family in Kuloro who refused to accept it until an investigation was done.
However according to Mansour since then, the family has not got any headway from the police as far as the case is concerned.
“We did not even have a chance to see the postmortem report.
We pursued the matter with the IGP who had informed us that the case file of the late Kaddy Jarju is at the Attorney General’s chambers. He said as soon they get the advice from AG, they will start the case,” Mansour said. He added that his family is very much distressed that the suspect is free and going about his business when the mysterious death of their child remains unresolved. “We have come to suspect that the girl may have died as a result of a failed abortion forced on her by her boyfriend and kidnapper. But the authorities are not saying anything concrete, more than seven months after the incident,” Mansour alleged.
The Standard contacted the police PRO, Lamin Njie who said similar enquiries have been made about the case and when he checked that time, the case file was still at the Attorney General’s chambers but the file has now been returned to the police with an advice to expand the investigation into certain areas and that is exactly what the police are doing right now.
