Abdou Tune, 27, said it was the mother of the girl who set him up.
“I once had a problem with the mother,” he revealed in court yesterday. “She broke my wheelbarrow and I asked her to repair it. She refused. I reported her to the police and she repaired it, but she threatened me that ‘I shall see it’.”
Tune was arrested in March 2013 for allegedly attempting to rape an underage girl, and has since been under custody. Several witnesses, including the girl and her mother, had testified against him, but he maintained his innocence.
Testifying in his defence before Justice Simon Abi at the high court in Banjul, he explained: “I was in my room with, a friend of mine, Dawda Gaye, cooking ‘Mbahal’ and brewing ‘ataya’ when the girl visited me. I gave her money to buy two sticks of cigarette and one ‘Jumbo’ for me. After a while, I went after her, but she was not at the shop. When I returned to my house, I met her sitting at the entrance of my room. I sent her away.
“The mother came to my house and accused me of having carnal knowledge of her daughter. I told her that the tenants would have heard if her allegation was true. She left and I voluntarily went to police to give my statement. I told the police that I never laid my hands on the girl.”
The case resumes March 7 for cross examination.
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