By Aisha Tamba
Magistrate Colley of the Kanifing court has expressed concern over the overwhelming crimes committed by the youths and called for more disciplinary actions.
Magistrate Colley said this while passing judgment on a 20-year-old who stabbed his cousin with a broken bottle for taking his cigarette.
Lamin Badjie was charged with assault causing actual bodily harm and pleaded guilty.
During his plea, Lamin Badjie blamed the devil for his actions. “I didn’t mean to stab him. He is my brother. It was Satan,” he pleaded.
However, delivering his judgment, Magistrate Colley said the assault is life-threatening that can attract a five-year jail term but he has taken into account the demeanor of the accused and his show of remorse over what he did.
The magistrate however alluded that it is the principle of the court that crime must not go unpunished no matter how one tries to quantify it.
“The youths of this country need to be disciplined. Stabbing a man like that just to smoke cigarette shows that the level of crime in this country committed by our youths is overwhelming and the court needs to put our feet down. The accused person’s conduct cannot be justified by any means,” Magistrate Colley said.
He was fined D10,000 that shall be used as compensation to the complainant in default to serve two years imprisonment.
