By Aisha Tamba
Justice Z.N Mboob of the Bakau High Court yesterday called for discipline from the public to allow his court to proceed with the trial of a suspect, Muhammed Thomas, in the killing of Omar Sonko, a Bakau taxi driver.
Justice Mboob’s call came after some members of the public clashed with the police leading to injuries and reported arrest of some youths.
“This is a court of law and a court of justice. This case has been investigated by the police and they have filed charges before this court and the courts has procedures. The case will be treated like any other murder case,” the judge said.
She warned that the court will hold in contempt any person showing indiscipline during the proceedings of the court.
Meanwhile, when calm returned, the first prosecution witness Bakary Jammeh, a printer at The Standard Newspaper told the court that he knew the deceased Omar Sonko and they were brothers and neighbours. He said the deceased was a taxi driver who also worked as satellite TV installator.
The witnessed recalled that on the 25th of November 2022 between 6 pm to 7 pm the late Omar’s mother came to his house worried that her son did not come back since he left for work in that morning.
“During the discussion with Omar’s mother, I took my phone and called both his Africell and Qcell numbers. The Africell number was off but the Qcell number was ringing but no one picked it up,” the witness said.
He added that he and one Yaya Sonko a brother of Omar, reported the matter to the Bakau Police Station but were told that since it was a Saturday they could not do anything until Monday. “We were not happy about that so we decided to go searching for Omar. The following day I asked his mother if I could go on social media. I first went to The Standard Newspaper to help me publish a missing -person story and later, WhatsOn-Gambia platform,” Jammeh said.
He added that later, he received a call to report to Bakau Police Station where he found the accused person giving a statement after been arrested by police who traced him through Omar’s phone calls.
The matter continues today.
