By Fatou Gassama
A teacher gave an emotional testimony before the Brusubi Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, describing how her 15-year-old daughter was allegedly raped in the bushes while walking to school by a suspect on a motorbike.
The accused, identified as Ebrima Krubally, is charged with engaging in sexual acts with the victim under coercive circumstances in West Coast Region on 25 February 2026.
The mother, the third prosecution witness, told the court that she woke up very sick on the day of the incident.
She said the victim came to her and asked for her lunch. The witness said she later got up to prepare it and then went to the school where she teaches, which is on the same premises.
After some time, she received a strange call. A woman was on the line and said her daughter was with her and that something had happened. The witness asked to speak to her daughter.
She said the victim told her that while she was on her way to school, a man grabbed her by the neck and threatened to kill her if she shouted.
“He took her to an empty plot of land and demanded sex, threatening to kill her if she refused.”
The witness said she asked her daughter if the accused had sex with her.
The daughter said yes. The witness shouted, and fellow teachers came to her aid. They took her phone and called the number back to find out what had happened.
Upon arriving at the home of the woman who helped her daughter, the witness saw the victim wearing a dress, not her school uniform. The girl was crying. Her socks and veil were covered in grass. The woman advised them to report the matter at the school and then go to the police station.
The witness told the court she asked the victim why she did not go back home but went to Sukuta instead. The victim said after the act, the accused told her not to use the same route to go home.
They went to the hospital, where a senior nurse asked for the victim’s uniform. They did not have it at that moment, but the nurse advised them not to change the victim’s clothes because they should be kept as evidence.
The nurse called the police. When the officers arrived, they went to Kanifing Hospital.
The following morning, as they were preparing to return to the hospital, the witness’s brother went back to the scene to see if he could find the accused. He did not see him, so they all left with the victim for the hospital.
The witness said she told her brother to go back to the area because the accused might return to wait for the victim.
As they were passing by, the victim, who was seated in the vehicle, saw the accused and shouted, “Mother, mother, that is the man.”
Before the witness could turn, the accused saw them with the victim and crossed the road on his motorbike. She asked the victim to confirm if that was the man, and the girl said yes. The witness told her brother to follow him.
The accused was speeding along Jabang Road. He turned right at the first junction, kicking up so much dust that they could not see. He was riding recklessly. He fell off the motorbike.
As the witness tried to get help from passersby, no one stopped because they thought they were chasing a thief. The accused stood up and ran into the bush. Her brother chased him. As the accused tried to jump over a fence, her brother grabbed his leg.
The accused began saying it was not him, but that the same thing had been done to him. He claimed it was not the first time he had done this and that he only did it in The Gambia, not Senegal.
People in the area wanted to beat the accused, but the witness asked them not to. She told them to take him to Latriya Police Station. There, they gave their statements. The accused pleaded for forgiveness, saying he was not in his right mind and that someone had done the same thing to him, which led him to commit the act on the first day of Ramadan.
The case was adjourned to 19 May 2026 for cross-examination.
