By Bruce Asemota
The High Court in Banjul, presided over by Justice Ebrima Jaiteh, on Tuesday sentenced one Babucarr Darboe to 10 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the death of Lamin Darboe, an ex-soldier resident in Fajikunda.
The accused, who was initially charged with murder, pleaded not guilty and the prosecution led by State Counsel F. Drammeh in proving the case called eight witnesses and tendered host of exhibits, including the post-mortem reports and the cement block used to cause his death.
The prosecution closed its case with the accused testifying in his defence without calling any witness.
The court ordered for written briefs to be filed and during the course of filing the briefs, the state filed an amended information from murder to manslaughter to which the accused the pleaded guilty.
The facts of the case were narrated by state counsel F.Drammeh and the accused accepted the facts but denied that he fought with the victim.
The defence lawyer, Omar Susso made a plea of mitigation on behalf of the convict and begged the court to temper justice with mercy as he was a first time offender and he is remorseful of his act.
Nonetheless, the court considered the consequence of the offense and said the convict should be taught a lesson in order to deter others therefore invoked section 29(2) of the Criminal Code, imposing a lesser sentence of 10 years imprisonment .
